Generally speaking, guys perform much better than gals in Maths Olympiad. Some evidences are below:
- Annual International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) total participation: typically, 90% male and 10% female
- Top 10 winners of Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO) - SMO Junior 2010 (9 boys, 1 girl), SMO Senior 2010 (9 boys, 1 girl), SMO Open 2010 (10 boys)
- Singapore's participation in IMO from 2006-2011: all-boys team
- Out of about 24 members in the 2010/2011 National Team, there is only 1 girl
- No girl has ever topped the SMO Junior/Senior/Open
- No girl has ever topped the following primary-level Math Olympiad competitions: NMOS/SMOPS/APMOPS/RIPWMC
Nevertheless, as in most things in life, there are exceptions. Lisa Sauermann from Germany has been one of the top winners in the IMO. To-date, she has garnered 3 Gold and 1 Silver IMO medals. She was ranked individual 4th in 2010 and 3rd in 2009.


To all girls out there who aspire to shine in the Mathematical Olympiad arena: if Lisa can do it, you can do it too!
3 comments:
Hi!
Lisa Sauermann will not take part in IMO 2012, as she finished school last month (unsurprisingly, with a perfect 1.0 score).
I was her Math Olympiad tutor for one year, but that was a long time ago, in her pre-IMO days. Nowadays, it’s Christian Reiher, number one in the IMO Hall of Fame.
We have high hopes that she will become the top IMO Hall-of-Famer this year—she “only” needs another gold medal.
Hi Peter Eberhard,
Thanks for the comments, and the additional information provided :)
Lisa Sauermann is really impressive!!
What is Christian Reiher doing these days? He finished his PhD in one year some time ago. What is he up to now?
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