South Africa’s young maths stars have made history at the International Mathematics Olympiad held in Australia recently, achieving their best result in 25 years!

The team placed 38th out of 110 countries, with one silver medal, four bronze, and one learner receiving an honourable mention.

The Olympiad is one of the world’s top maths competitions for high schoolers.

The South African Mathematics Foundation shared the exciting news a few days ago.

Here are the results of Team SA, with the medal winners are from Western Cape Schools:

• Youkyum Kim (Grade 12, Reddam House Durbanville) – Silver Medal
• Moied Baleg (Grade 12, The Settlers High School) – Bronze Medal
• Eli Williams (Grade 11, Westerford High School) – Bronze Medal
• Pocoyo Pun (Grade 10, Elkanah House) – Bronze Medal
• Yian Xu (Grade 12, Redhill High School) – Bronze Medal
• Ellen Grant-Smith (Grade 12, Westerford High School) – Honourable Mention

The competition took place over two days, where each student was tasked with solving three tough problems in 4½ hours each day.

After the competition, the leaders and teachers double-checked all the answers to make sure they were marked fairly and correctly.

The students were ranked based on how many points they scored. Medals are given to the top students, but only about half of them get a medal.

The medals are given out in a way that for every gold medal, there are about two silver medals and three bronze medals. If a student doesn’t win a medal but scores 7 points on at least one problem, they get an honourable mention.

Professor Moshokoa, the SAMF’s Executive Director, has expressed his pride in the team:

“We’re so pleased with how our team did this year. They worked really hard, and this achievement shows just how talented they are.”

The People’s Republic of China ranked first, followed by the United States, and the Republic of Korea.

Team SA’s participation was made possible by Old Mutual South Africa.