Six Capetonian high school learners have been selected to participate in the 59th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) to be held in Cluj Napoca, Romania from the 03rd till the 14th of July 2018. Last year this prestigious Olympiad took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In this Olympiad questions testing advanced thinking skills are chosen from mathematical topics including Geometry, Combinatorics, Number Theory and Algebra. The IMO brings young minds together not only for competition purposes, but also for instilling a spirit of friendship. The team has been selected based on the results of last year’s South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) and other SAMF Olympiad programmes, followed by an intensive training programme.
The following learners have been selected:
Adri Wessels Grade 11 Curro Durbanville
Taariq Mowzer Grade 11 Fairbain College
Emil van der Walt Grade 11 Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck
Tim Schlesinger Grade 12 Rondebosch Boys’ High School
Emile Tredoux Grade 12 Parklands College
Ralph McDougall Grade 12 Curro Durbanville
Five members of this team took part in the 2017 IMO that walked away with 2 bronze medals and 3 honourable mentions with South Africa ranked in the 58th position out of 110 countries. This means that they are much more familiar with the type of questions that are asked at the IMO and have gained valuable experience. The team will be accompanied by Liam Baker (leader) and Phil Labuschagne (deputy leader).
“As a member of the South African IMO team, I am ecstatic. The opportunity to represent my country abroad has always been one of my goals. I am looking forward to going to the IMO in Romania to not only participate, but to meet other like-minded individuals who enjoy doing mathematics as well,” says Emile Tredoux, the only new member of the team.
