Four Golds and Sixth Place at the Maths Olympiad for Israel

Israel's team at the International Mathematical Olympiad won six medals (four gold, one silver and one bronze) and finished sixth out of 110 countries at this year's competition in Australia, its best result since the country began taking part in 1979. All six members of the delegation came home with a medal.

The 66th olympiad, first held in 1959, drew 639 competitors from 110 countries, and was staged on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, on Australia's eastern seaboard, according to the competition's own results register. The event is the world championship of secondary-school mathematics: contestants sit two papers of three problems each over two days, working alone, with seven points available per problem.

The six who competed

The team, with spellings as recorded in the olympiad's official register, was:

• Raz Dvora of Rehovot, a year-12 pupil at De Shalit High School: gold
• Eithan Grinzaid of Petah Tikva, year 12 at Ahad Ha'am High School: gold
• Shahar Blumentzvaig of Modi'in, year 11 at the Atid science high school in Lod: gold
• Yotam Budnik of Rehovot, year 11 at De Shalit High School: gold
• Nadav Dan Tamari of Ramat Gan, year 12 at Ohel Shem High School: silver
• Ariel Doron of Ramat Hasharon, year 12 at Kfar Hayarok: bronze

What sixth place was worth

Israel scored 194 points out of a possible 252, according to the official team results, behind China on 231, the United States on 216, South Korea on 203, and Japan and Poland on 196 each. Grinzaid placed 12th in the world individually on 36 points; Blumentzvaig, Budnik and Dvora tied for 27th on 35 each.

The training behind it

The squad prepared at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot under Dr Dmitry Novikov, with Lev Radzivilovsky as head coach, the Jerusalem Post reported. The delegation itself was led by Dr Dan Carmon, with Daniel Kaner as deputy leader and Giora Shvidler and Ronel Lakker among the trainers. Education Minister Yoav Kisch called the placing “a record-breaking ranking, an achievement unmatched since Israel began participating in the Olympiad.” Two of the four gold medallists, Blumentzvaig and Budnik, were still in year 11.

How the competition grew

The first olympiad was held in Romania in 1959 with seven countries taking part. It now spans more than 100 countries across five continents, with a governing board responsible for ensuring the contest is held each year and that host countries observe its rules and traditions.

What the announcement did not say

The statement did not describe how the six were selected, how many Israeli pupils competed in the national qualifying rounds, or how long the training programme runs. It gave no detail of the problems set in Australia, and no indication of whether the state funds the team's preparation.