WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
DAVIDSON INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
The International Mathematical Olympiad in Argentina.
Olympic Hope
This summer, when Israeli athletes compete for medals at the Olympic Games in London, yet another Israeli team will strive for gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Argentina. Last year the team won five medals; this year, they will try to do even better.
Six students have been selected to represent Israel at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) after excelling at two national competitions – the Zuta Math Olympiad and the Joseph Gillis National Math Olympiad – and going through two challenging training camps. The IMO, in its 53rd year, will take place in the seaside city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The Israeli team will be joining 10th to 12th grade students from 101 countries. At last year’s IMO in Amsterdam, the Israeli team won five medals – one gold and four bronze – and was ranked 23rd, its best achievement in the past seven years and a 30-rank advance from 2010.
The Israeli team is composed of high school students participating in programs for outstanding students conducted by the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science. All its six members did exceptionally well in two national competitions that involved more than a thousand high school students, and they stood out for their accomplishments in the training camps held by the Davidson Institute of Science Education in February and April this year.
The team includes two of last year’s winners, Yoav Kraus from the Katzir High School in Holon and Konstantin Zabarnyi from the Alef Municipal High School in Haifa, who will be taking part in the IMO for the third consecutive year. The two will be joined by four new “players”: Amotz Oppenheim, Omri Solan, Ofer Grossman and Daniel Hadas. Hadas, a 12th grade student, is also representing Israel in two additional competitions – the International Physics Olympiad and the International Olympiad in Informatics – again through his participation in Davidson Institute programs.
The team will be led by coach Lev Radzibilovsky, who was, himself, a participant in IMO competitions from 1994 to 1996, winning two silver medals and one bronze. Also coaching will be Dr. Dmitry Novikov of the Weizmann Institute’s Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as a number of Weizmann students. In early June, in preparation for the competition that begins on July 4, the team will spend two weeks at a special training camp. They will also receive training at home throughout the remaining three months before leaving for Argentina.
