From left: Do Xuan Bach, Phan Thanh Thai, Pham Duy Tung

Vietnam came tied for third place with South Korea at the International Math Olympiad 2007, with three gold and three silver medals behind leaders Russia and China.

Tran Van Nghia, deputy head of the Olympiad (IMO ’07)’s organizing board, said last night that examiners had just finished judging over 3,000 papers written by some 500 student competitors from 95 delegations.

The host country’s three gold medals belong to Do Xuan Bach and Pham Duy Tung from Hanoi and Pham Thanh Thai from the northern Hai Duong province.

The Russian delegation came in first with six gold medals and the Chinese won second with five golds and one silver.

This year’s IMO, the 48th event of its kind, began July 24 in Hanoi.

IMO, an annual competition for mathematically gifted high school students from all over the world, is held in a different country every year. The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with 7 countries participating.

Vietnam sent their first students to the IMO in 1974.

The country’s best marks came at the 2004 competition in Greece, where the Vietnamese delegation won four gold and two silver medals, ranking fourth on the overall table after Russia, the US, and China.

Last year Vietnam ranked 13th with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals at the event held in Slovenia.

Spain and Germany will respectively organize upcoming IMOs in the next two years.

IMO ‘07’s granting and closing ceremony takes place tomorrow.

Source: thanhnien