PH wins gold, 2 bronze medals at 61st Int’l Math Olympiad

The Philippines won a gold medal, two bronze medals and three honorable mentions at the 61st International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held from Sept. 19 to 28.

Saint Petersburg, Russia was originally selected as the venue for this year’s contest but due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the IMO was held online with contestants taking the test in their respective countries. A total of 616 contestants including 56 females from 105 countries took part this year, according to IMO.

Andres Rico Gonzales III of the De La Salle University Integrated School won the country’s gold medal, placing fourth overall, the highest individual ranking for a Filipino contestant. He won a bronze medal last year and an honorable mention in 2018.

Winning bronze medals are IMO firsttimer Raphael Dylan Dalida of Philippine Science High School-Main and Bryce Ainsley Sanchez of Grace Christian College, who won a bronze medal in the contest last year.

Those who received honorable mentions are Immanuel Josiah Baleta of St. Stephen's High School, Sarji Elijah Bona of Palawan Hope Christian School/De La Salle University Integrated School and Vincent dela Cruz of Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science.

This is the fourth gold medal for the Philippines in the IMO since the country joined the competition in 1988. The first time was in 2016 when Farrell Eldrian Wu and Kyle Patrick Dulay won gold medals followed by Albert John Patupat in 2018. The country has won 12 silver and 33 bronze medals, and 26 honorable mentions to date.

Last year, the country took home a silver and five bronze medals from the IMO held in the United Kingdom.

The Philippine team’s leader this year is Christian Paul Shio, who represented the country in the 1998 IMO, and the deputy leader is Carlo Francisco Adajar, who joined the contest in 2007 and 2009. All the contestants were selected through the Philippine Mathematical Olympiad (PMO).