U.S. Team Wins global Math Olympiad For First Time Since 1994

Two Indian-origin students have helped the US win the prestigious worldwide Mathematical Olympiad after more than two decades. India was ranked 37th in the competition.

In the worldwide Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in Chang Mai, Thailand, the US defeated China by just four points, 185-181.

“Go Team US! America took first place in the global Mathematical Olympiad for the first time since 1994”, the White House tweeted, and attached a photo of a congratulatory letter from the U.S. President Barack Obama.

“This is a huge deal”.

Gold medals were awarded to five USA competitors: Ryan Alweiss, Allen Liu, Yang Liu, Shyam Narayanan and David Stoner. “I will say that it’s not really a super-great spectator sport, in the sense that if you are watching them, it will look like they are thinking”, Po-Shen Loh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and head coach for Team United States of America says. China has captured the title 19 times since the competition began in 1959. South Korea came in third.

The competition included 570 secondary-school-age students from 104 countries, and involved no calculators.

Every year, American students endure a drumbeat of news coverage reporting that the U.S.is lagging behind the developed world in math, science and engineering.

Loh said the Olympiad results were proof that top Americans can hold their own with representatives from other countries, despite rising alarm in recent years over perceived decreases in the quality of American math education.