List of International Mathematical Olympiad participants explained

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is an annual international high school mathematics competition focused primarily on pre-collegiate mathematics, and is the oldest of the international science olympiads.[1] The awards for exceptional performance include medals for roughly the top half participants, and honorable mentions for participants who solve at least one problem perfectly.[2]

This is a list of participants who have achieved notability. This includes participants that went on to become notable mathematicians, participants who won medals at an exceptionally young age, or participants who scored highly.

Exceptionally young medalists

!Name!Team(s)!Year!Awards!Age (on final day of IMO)
Terence Tao Australia1986data-sort-value="3" style="background-color:#FFCC99;" Bronze
Raúl Chávez Sarmiento Peru2009data-sort-value="3" style="background-color:#FFCC99;" Bronze
Terence Tao Australia1987data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Alex Chui Hong Kong2020data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Akshay Venkatesh Australia1994data-sort-value="3" style="background-color:#FFCC99;" Bronze
Yeoh Zi Song Malaysia2014data-sort-value="3" style="background-color:#FFCC99;" Bronze12 years, 245 days
Raúl Chávez Sarmiento Peru2010data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Terence Tao Australia1988data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Warren Bei Canada2021data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Alex Chui Hong Kong2021data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Damjan Davkov2021data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Jeremy Kahn United States1983data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Raúl Chávez Sarmiento Peru2011data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Pawel Kröger1972data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score
Pasin Manurangsi Thailand2007data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Warren Bei Canada2022data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Ömer Cerrahoğlu Romania2009data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Pipitchaya Sridam Thailand2021data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
William Cheah Australia2023data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver14 years, 181 days
Damjan Davkov2022data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Harvey Yau United Kingdom2014data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Jeremy Kahn United States1984data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Lisa Sauermann Germany2007data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#E5E5E5;" Silver
Noam Elkies United States1981data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score
Pasin Manurangsi Thailand2008data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Aleksandr Khazanov United States1994data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score
Sergei Konyagin1972data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score
Ethan Yong-Ern Tan Australia2018data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Simon P. Norton United Kingdom1967data-sort-value="1" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Vladimir Drinfeld1969data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score
Damjan Davkov2023data-sort-value="2" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Gold
Yuliy Sannikov Ukraine1994data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#FEEC80;" Perfect Score

High-scoring participants

The following table lists all IMO Winners who have won at least three gold medals, with corresponding years and non-gold medals received noted (P denotes a perfect score.)

NameTeam(s)Years
Zhuo Qun Song Canada201020112012201320142015 P
Teodor von Burg Serbia200720082009201020112012
Lisa Sauermann Germany20072008200920102011 P
Nipun Pitimanaaree20092010201120122013
Christian Reiher Germany19992000200120022003
Luke Robitaille United States2019202020212022
Reid W. Barton United States1998199920002001 P
Alex Chui Hong Kong ('20, '21)
United Kingdom ('22, '23, '24)
20202021202220232024
Wolfgang Burmeister East Germany1967196819691970 P1971
Iurie Boreico Moldova200320042005 P2006 P2007
Lim Jeck Singapore2009201020112012 P2013
Martin Härterich West Germany198519861987 P19881989
László Lovász Hungary196319641965 P1966 P
Hungary1963196419651966 P
Nikolay Nikolov1992199319941995 P
Kentaro Nagao Japan1997199819992000
Vladimir Barzov Bulgaria1999200020012002
Peter Scholze Germany20042005 P20062007
Pranjal Srivastava India2018201920212022
Makoto Soejima Japan2005200720082009 P
Alex Gunning Australia201220132014 P2015
Andrew Carlotti United Kingdom2010201120122013
Simon Norton United Kingdom196719681969 P
John Rickard United Kingdom1975 P19761977 P
Sergei Ivanov Soviet Union1987 P19881989 P
Theodor Banica Romania198919901991
Eugenia Malinnikova Soviet Union19891990 P1991 P
Sergey Norine Russia1994 P1995 P1996
Yuliy Sannikov Ukraine1994 P19951996
Ciprian Manolescu Romania1995 P1996 P1997 P
Ivan Ivanov Bulgaria199619971998
Nikolai Dourov Russia199619971998
Tamás Terpai Hungary199719981999
Stefan Hornet Romania199719981999
Vladimir Dremov Russia199819992000
Mihai Manea Romania199920002001
Tiankai Liu United States200120022004
Oleg Golberg Russia ('02, '03)
United States ('04)
200220032004
Béla András Rácz Hungary200220032004 P
Andrey Badzyan Russia200220032004 P
Rosen Kralev Bulgaria200320042005 P
Przemysław Mazur Poland200620072008
Tak Wing Ching Hong Kong200920102011
Chung Song Hong North Korea201120122013
Dong Ryul Kim South Korea201220132014
Allen Liu United States201420152016 P
Sheldon Kieren Tan Singapore201420152016

Notable participants

A number of IMO participants have gone on to become notable mathematicians. The following IMO participants have either received a Fields Medal, an Abel Prize, a Wolf Prize or a Clay Research Award, awards which recognise groundbreaking research in mathematics; a European Mathematical Society Prize, an award which recognizes young researchers; or one of the American Mathematical Society's awards (a Blumenthal Award in Pure Mathematics, Bôcher Memorial Prize in Analysis, Cole Prize in Algebra, Cole Prize in Number Theory, Fulkerson Prize in Discrete Mathematics, Steele Prize in Mathematics, or Veblen Prize in Geometry and Topology) recognizing research in specific mathematical fields. Grigori Perelman proved the Poincaré conjecture (one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems), and Yuri Matiyasevich gave a negative solution of Hilbert's tenth problem.

G denotes an IMO gold medal, S denotes a silver medal, B denotes a bronze medal, and P denotes a perfect score.

 Name   Team   IMO  Fields Medal  Wolf Prize  EMS Prize  AMS research prizes  Clay Award class=“unsortable”  Abel Prize 
 Grigory Margulis    Soviet Union   S 1962  1978 2005 2020
 George Lusztig    Romania   S 1963, S 1962  1985 (Cole algebra)
 Henryk Iwaniec    Poland   S 1966, 1965  2002 (Cole number theory)
 László Lovász    Hungary   P 1966, P 1965, G 1964, S 1963  1999 1982, 2012 (Fulkerson) 2021
 Andrei Suslin    Soviet Union   G 1967  2000 (Cole algebra)
 János Pintz    Hungary   B 1969, P 1968,B 1967  2014 (Cole number theory)
 Vladimir Drinfeld    Soviet Union   P 1969  1990 2018
 Andrei Zelevinsky    Soviet Union   S 1969 2018 (Steele)
 Alexander Merkurjev    Soviet Union   S 1972  2012 (Cole algebra)
 Pierre-Louis Lions    France   1973  1994
 János Kollár    Hungary   P 1974, G 1973  2006 (Cole algebra)
 Jean-Christophe Yoccoz    France   P 1974, S 1973  1994
 Sergey Fomin    Soviet Union   S 1974 2018 (Steele)
 Paul Vojta    United States   P 1975  1992 (Cole number theory)
 Alexander Goncharov    Soviet Union   G 1976  1992
 Richard Borcherds    United Kingdom   G 1978, S 1977  1998 1992
 Timothy Gowers    United Kingdom   P 1981  1998 1996
 Peter Kronheimer    United Kingdom   S 1981  2007 (Veblen)
 Michel Goemans    Belgium    1981, 1982   2000 (Fulkerson)
 Gábor Tardos    Hungary   S 1982, S 1981, 1979  1992
 Grigori Perelman    Soviet Union   P 1982     2006[3] 1996[4]
 Alexis Bonnet    France   S 1984, S 1983  1996
 Laurent Lafforgue    France   S 1985, S 1984  2002 2000
 Daniel Tătaru    Romania   P 1985, P 1984  2002 (Bôcher)
 Zoltán Szabó    Hungary   S 1985  2007 (Veblen)
 Jeremy Kahn    United States   G 1986, G 1985, S 1984, S 1983  2012
 Ricardo Pérez-Marco    Spain   S 1986, 1985  1996
 Dominic Joyce    United Kingdom   S 1986  2000
 Stanislav Smirnov    Soviet Union   P 1987, P 1986  2010 2004 2001
 Terence Tao    Australia   G 1988, S 1987, B 1986  2006 2002 (Bôcher) 2003
 Elon Lindenstrauss    Israel   B 1988  2010 20042001 (Blumenthal)
 Ngô Bảo Châu    Vietnam   G 1989, P 1988  2010 2004
 Emmanuel Grenier    France   B 1989  2000
 Vincent Lafforgue    France   P 1991, P 1990  2000
 Eugenia Malinnikova    Soviet Union   P 1991, P 1990, G 1989  2017
 Akshay Venkatesh    Australia   B 1994  2018
 Artur Avila    Brazil   G 1995  2014 2008
 Emmanuel Breuillard    France   G 1995  2012
 Ben J. Green    United Kingdom   S 1995, S 1994  2008 2004
 Maryam Mirzakhani    Iran   P 1995, G 1994   2014 2009 (Blumenthal) 2014
 Boáz Klartag    Israel   S 1996  2008
 Ciprian Manolescu    Romania   P 1997, P 1996, P 1995  2012
 Adrian Ioana    Romania   S 1999  2012
 Mark Braverman    Israel   G 2000, B 1999, B 1998  2016
 Ana Caraiani    Romania   G 2003, G 2002, S 2001  2020
 Kaisa Matomäki    Finland   2003, 2002  2020
 Simion Filip      S 2005, B 2004  2020
 Peter Scholze    Germany   G 2007, G 2006, P 2005, S 2004  2018 2016 2015 (Cole algebra) 2014

IMO medalists have also gone on to become notable computer scientists. The following IMO medalists have received a Nevanlinna Prize, a Knuth Prize, or a Gödel Prize; these awards recognise research in theoretical computer science. G denotes an IMO gold medal, S denotes a silver medal, B denotes a bronze medal, and P denotes a perfect score.

 Name   Team   IMO  Nevanlinna Prize  Knuth Prize  Gödel Prize 
 László Lovász    Hungary   P 1966, P 1965, G 1964, S 1963  1999 2001
 László Babai    Hungary   P 1968, S 1967, S 1966  2015 1993
 Johan Håstad    Sweden   G 1977  1994, 2011
 Peter Shor    United States   S 1977  1998 1999
 Alexander Razborov    Soviet Union   G 1979  1990 2007
 Subhash Khot    India   S 1995, S 1994  2014

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO).
  2. Web site: 47th International Mathematical Olympiad Results.
  3. Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture, but he declined the Medal.
  4. Perelman was awarded an EMS prize for his proof of the Soul theorem, but he declined the prize.