More Photos

More random photos from the facebook albums of Mr Lu's and Gar Goei's.

Playing cling.

With Mr Teo and Yan Sheng.

Cutlery = fingers.

During the coordination of answer scripts.

Notice how tall Vincent is.

Photos and Random Comments on 51st IMO

Below are some photos taken (a few are from Mr Lu's and Gar Goei's facebook).

Group departing from Terminal 3 on 4 July. Participants are in the back row, observers and deputy leader in front row.

Transit at Beijing. Group photo at Birdnest stadium.

Hotel in Astana.

The Baiterek monument and the United Buddy Bears at Astana city.

Ivan and Gabriel with the China Buddy Bear.

Singapore Team participants with observers and Simon (bear).

With team leaders and Singapore flag

Some random comments:

- organisation of IMO failed, a lot of delays, from hotel in Astana we took 6-hr coach ride (!) to the competition venue
- China is the only country that wins 6 Golds; Nie Zipei from China is the only participant with a perfect score of 42

- Belgium beats China in Qn 1 by scoring 42 (i.e. all 6 participants got complete solution for Qn 1) as China scores 'only' 41 in Qn 1, however all 6 Belgium contestants get Honourable Mention (all because of Qn 1, contestants who do not qualify for a medal but score full mark in at least 1 qn will get Honourable Mention)

- Singapore also beats China, Russia, USA and Japan in Qn 1 :)

- Highest team score for Qn 5 is 24. This must be the hardest Qn 5 in the history of IMO.

- North Korea got disqualified. Heard it was because all the contestants use the same lemma (i.e. a proven statement) for Qn 3. You can read more about this incident here in Mathlinks.

- This year's Gold cut-off point of 27 is the lowest in the history of IMO

- Initial cut-off points for Silver and Bronze were 22 and 16 respectively, but Jury voted for 21 and 15. If Bronze cut-off is 16, 43% of contestants are awarded medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) and if it is 15, 51% are awarded medals.

IMO 2010 Results Out!

This is posted by LJ's mum.

The IMO 2010 results were released about half an hour ago. Here is Singapore's results: 4 Silvers, 1 Bronze and 1 Honourable Mention.



Singapore is ranked 22 out of 96 countries (last year, she was ranked 30 out of 104 countries). Top 5 countries are: China, Russia, USA, Korea and Kazakhstan.

Full results are here. This year the cut-off points for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are 27, 21 and 15 respectively. Looking at the Singapore Team's individual contestant's results for each question, I think we could have won 4 Golds!! How?? Typically Qn 3 and Qn 6 of the IMO are the hardest questions, so it is understandable if none of them could solve the questions or manage to secure even 1 point. However, IF only Ivan could solve Qn 2 (Geometry) completely, and IF only Jie Jun, Lim Jeck and Yan Sheng could solve Qn 5 (Combinatorics) completely, then this time Singapore would have won 4 Golds, and she would also be ranked among the top 10 countries :D
But sadly the fact is, Singapore has participated 23 times in IMO since 1988, and has only won a grand total of 1 Gold :-( .. nevertheless, I do have the confidence that Singapore can win more Golds within the next years as we see more and more younger students being inducted into the national training team!!

Off to Astana, Kazakhstan

Will be flying in a few hours' time.

Programme of the 51st IMO
5 July - Arrival
6 July - Opening ceremony
7-8 July - 1st and 2nd day of contest
9-12 July - Excursion
13 July - Closing ceremony / farewell dinner
14 July - Departure (reaching Singapore on 15 July)

Questions are usually uploaded quite soon, a few hours after the contest. They can be checked here, at Mathlinks.

I think final results should come in on 11 or 12 July, and can probably be checked from here.

Very Moving Thai Video Clip

If you haven't watched this before, you will be surprised at the ending. It will bring a smile to your face :)



The Thais are really creative people.

Counting Down to 51st IMO

We have been training for IMO at NUS since before the June holidays and the training will officially end this evening.

Official website for 51st IMO: http://www.imo2010org.kz/

Team Singapore:

We will be flying to Beijing from Singapore on 4 July morning, then from Beijing to Almaty (Kazakhstan), and then from Almaty to Astana (capital of Kazakhstan, competition venue).
We were told that the Kazakh food is mainly meat (mostly horse meat!) and milk products, and the most popular drink is tea with milk. In case the food does not appeal to us, we are encouraged to bring instant cup noodles.
National currency is Tenge, 1 tenge = 100 tiyns. 1 SGD is about 100 Tenge.