List of International Mathematical Olympiads

A circle, interlinked with a sideways figure of eight (lemniscate). The circle is half green and half yellow, the lemniscate is a third red, a third blue and a third black. The shapes are featured in front of a white background.
Logo of the International Mathematical Olympiad

The first of the International Mathematical Olympiads (IMOs) was held in Romania in 1959. The oldest of the International Science Olympiads, the IMO has since been held annually, except in 1980. That year, the competition initially planned to be held in Mongolia was cancelled due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[1] Because the competition was initially founded for Eastern European countries participating in the Warsaw Pact, under the influence of the Eastern Bloc,[2] the earlier IMOs were hosted only in Eastern European countries, gradually spreading to other nations.[3]

The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. Seven countries entered – Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union – with the hosts finishing as the top-ranked nation.[4] The number of participating countries has since risen: 14 countries took part in 1969, 50 in 1989, and 104 in 2009.[5]

North Korea is the only country whose entire team has been caught cheating, resulting in its disqualification at the 32nd IMO in 1991 and the 51st IMO in 2010.[6] (However, the 2010 case was controversial.[7][8]) There have been other disqualifications of contestants due to cheating, but such cases are not officially made public.[9] In January 2011, Google gave €1 million to the IMO organization to help cover the costs of the events from 2011 to 2015.[10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mongolia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "More IMO Facts". Archived from the original on 2001-08-20. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  3. ^ "Singapore International Mathematical Olympiad (SIMO) Home Page". Singapore Mathematical Society. Archived from the original on 2003-03-27. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  4. ^ "1st IMO 1959". International Mathematical Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  5. ^ "Timeline". International Mathematical Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  6. ^ "International Mathematical Olympiad: Democratic People's Republic of Korea". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
  7. ^ Geoff Smith. "International Mathematical Olympiad 2010 UK leader's report, Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan". UK IMO Register. Archived from the original on 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  8. ^ "North Korea's disqualification at IMO 2010". Art of Problem Solving. Archived from the original on 2023-10-21. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  9. ^ Adam McBride. "34th International Mathematical Olympiad, Istanbul, Turkey, UK leader's report". UK IMO Register. Archived from the original on 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-11-24.
  10. ^ Google Europe Blog: Giving young mathematicians the chance to shine Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine. Googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com (2011-01-21). Retrieved on 2013-10-29.