21/09/2020

Online, IMO wants to integrate competitors through networks.

Imagem: Equipe brasileira durante cerimônia de apresentação da IMO 2020

Brazilian medalists awarded in national and international olympiads face, until next Monday (28), a new and important mathematical challenge. Bernardo Peruzzo Trevizan, from São Paulo (SP); Guilherme Zeus Dantas e Moura, from Maricá (RJ); Pablo Andrade Carvalho Barros, from Teresina (PI); Francisco Moreira Machado Neto, Gabriel Ribeiro Paiva and Pedro Gomes Cabral, from Fortaleza (CE) participate in the 61st International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), held online for the first time .

The competition was to take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, but had to be adapted due to the pandemic. This Monday (21) and Tuesday (22), competitors will take the tests at testing centers in each country, previously selected by the IMO advisory board.

To mitigate the absence of in-person meetings between students and mathematicians, a series of virtual activities seeks to integrate the participants of the Olympiad through social media. In the coming days, teams will receive fun tasks, related or not to mathematics, to complete. Photos and videos of the results should be sent via direct message to the IMO's Instagram account . With more than 100 participating countries, the page will also gather records of cultural diversity from the perspective of the more than 600 competitors, who will be invited to share photos of tourist attractions where they live and typical sandwiches.

Also on Instagram, followers of the profile will be able to follow sightseeing tours along rivers and canals of St. Petersburg and through the gardens of Peterhof Palace. The complete schedule is available on the Olympiad page . Last Sunday (20), a ceremony broadcast on the IMO's YouTube channel welcomed the teams and featured a speech by the Russian Minister of Education.

The team representing Brazil in the competition is made up of medalists from the 41st Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad (OBM) , led by professors Carlos Gustavo T. de A. Moreira, known as Gugu, from IMPA, and Matheus Secco, both from Rio de Janeiro (RJ). To participate in the International Mathematical Olympiad, the students went through three selection tests and intense training.

"It's going to be a week of hard work for the leaders and the students. Russia, which is organizing this year's IMO (albeit remotely), has a huge Olympic tradition, and the competition should be very difficult. Even so, the Brazilian team is experienced and went through a very competitive selection process. We expect them to perform well in the competition," comments Gugu.

The winners will be announced on September 28th via YouTube , starting at 7 AM (Brasilia time). Held since 1959, the IMO is for high school students aged 14 to 19 who have not yet entered university. Each team consists of up to six students. Brazil is the Latin American country with the most medals in the competition, totaling 136 so far. Last year , the Brazilian team won six medals, two silver and four bronze.