Philippine Team wins medals in International Mathematical Olympiad

This is a press release 

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines won three silver medals and three bronze medals in the 58th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 13 to 23, 2017. The IMO is the world championship mathematics competition for high school students, making it the most prestigious and the most difficult high school mathematics competition in the world.

This is also the first time that all 6 contestants from the Philippines won medals in the Olympics of math competitions. While the team was unable to replicate last year’s two-fold gold medal feat (narrowly missing the gold cutoff by a single point this year), the team was able to keep its ranking of 17th out of 111 countries.

The 6 Filipino contestants who competed with more than 600 other contestants are the following:

Kyle Patrick Dulay of Philippine Science High School (Main) – Silver Medal
Albert John Patupat of De La Salle University Integrated School – Silver Medal
Farrell Eldrian Wu of MGC New Life Christian Academy – Silver Medal
Shaquille Wyan Que of Grace Christian College – Bronze Medal
Sean Anderson Ty of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School – Bronze Medal
Clyde Wesley Ang of Chiang Kai Shek College – Bronze Medal

The team was headed by Dr. Richard Eden of Ateneo de Manila University (Team Leader) and Dr. Louie John Vallejo of University of the Philippines – Diliman (Deputy Team Leader), both members of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines. The MSP holds the training and participation in the IMO in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute.

The complete results and rankings are posted here.

The IMO was first held in 1959 in Romania, and has been held annually in various host countries since then. Some outstanding mathematicians have distinguished themselves in the IMO in their youth including gold medalists Artur Avila of Brazil and the recently deceased Maryam Mirzakhani of Iran. In 2014, Avila and Mirzakhani were awarded each a Fields Medal, the mathematical equivalent of a Nobel Prize, with Mirzakhani being the first female recipient of this award.

Each country can send at most only 6 contestants, accompanied by a Team Leader and a Deputy Team leader. The contestants compete individually as they solve for each of two days (and 4.5 hours per day) three difficult and original math problems. Team leaders then propose marks for their students with problem coordinators to maintain standards and ensure uniformity of marking.

Roughly half of all contestants given medals. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are then awarded roughly in the ratio 1:2:3. As testament to the difficulty of the problems, a non-medalist who completely solves one problem is given an Honorable Mention award.

Aside from Dr. Eden and Dr. Vallejo, the other trainers were Mr. Carlo Francisco Adajar (University of the Philippine – Diliman), Dr. Christian Chan Shio (Ateneo de Manila University), Mr. Gari Lincoln Chua (UPD), Ms. Camille Tyrene Dee (AdMU), Dr. Jerome Dimabayao (UPD), Mr. Russelle Guadalupe (UPD), Dr. Job Nable (AdMU), Ms. Diane Christine Pelejo (UPD), Dr. Timothy Robin Teng (AdMU), and Ms. Mikaela Angelina Uy (former IMO contestant).

The country’s training and IMO participation this year are made made possible by the Team’s major sponsors this year – Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI) Foundation and Manulife Business Processing Services. – Rappler.com