Folha: “Where Do Math Olympiads Come From?”

Reproduction of Marcelo Viana’s column in Folha de S. Paulo.

A brief note in the October 23, 1966, edition of Folha announced : “GEEM to Launch Modern Mathematics Olympiad.” GEEM was the Mathematics Education Study Group, founded in São Paulo five years earlier under the coordination of Professor Osvaldo Sangiorgi, the leading proponent in Brazil of what was then called modern mathematics. The content of the note, however, marked the first chapter in our country of a history that was already long-standing—now more than a century old—and which made Brazil the host of the world’s largest school competition, the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad (OBMEP).

Few people know that the idea of a “math Olympiad” is very old, predating even the creation of the modern Olympic Games (sports), the first edition of which took place in Athens in 1896: two years earlier, in 1894, Hungary had already established the first national math competition for high school students. Within a decade, Romania followed suit.

These pioneering initiatives were not yet called “Olympiads.” The first to bear that name was the Leningrad Mathematics Olympiad, launched in 1934 by the Department of Mathematics at the University of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The following year, the idea was replicated in Moscow. Later that same decade, physics, chemistry, and biology Olympiads began in both cities.

Initially, the Leningrad Math Olympiad was held in three phases. In the first phase, the problems were sent to the schools, where they were administered. Several hundred students were selected for the second phase, which was an in-person, written exam. Of these, the top 100 advanced to the third round. An interesting fact is that this final round was oral, with students having to solve the problems in real time before a panel of judges (they could try up to three different methods of solution).

This oral format was in line with an even older tradition that continues to this day: the famous “mathematics circles” of Moscow and Leningrad. These are regular meetings between high school students and university professors to discuss advanced mathematics in language accessible to young people. It’s no wonder they became famous, as they always featured the participation of the Soviet Union’s greatest mathematicians, such as Andrei Kolmogorov and Israel Gelfand. In Brazil, IMPA publishes some of the books that resulted from these math circles.

In 1934, there were no medals yet: the top 11 contestants were awarded a metal plaque inscribed with the words “Winner of the first Math Olympiad” (in the world!). Not bad, huh?!

By the late 1950s, seven Eastern European countries—Hungary, Romania, the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany—already had their own math Olympiads. In addition to the competition itself, these events—which included lectures, discussions, and the publication of books and magazines—were always viewed as strategic tools for identifying talented young people and fostering an understanding of and appreciation for the subject.

To read it in full, visit Folha’s website.