The 2012 IMO just completed, with the top three teams being (1) Korea, (2) China, and (3) the U.S. http://www.imo-official.org/results.aspx . The (hard) problems are at the site.

Looking at Google News stories on the "international mathematical olympiad", I see stories from Israel, Viet Nam, the Phillipines, Korea, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, and Romania noting team and individual successes, but no stories yet in the U.S. media about the good American result. Well, let the Davidson Forum fix that .

In the U.S. the qualifying exams for the IMO are the AMC followed by the AIME.

Since North Korea is also competitive (12th this year, 5th in 2009) we should remark that it's South Korea that won this year (unexpectedly beating China, the usual winner - though it does always do well).

I was just reading a blog post from three years ago (yes, I have something I should be doing instead, why do you ask?) lamenting that in 2009 both Koreas beat the US, and blaming this on anti-mathematical culture in the US. I presume that the countries that do really well despite small populations do so by identifying likely competitors and getting them to focus on nothing else for a while (unlike most countries, where competitors fit in IMO training around their usual school and activities) but I don't actually know.

Actually Questions 1 and 2 are not too hard this year - for a mathematically trained adult who's not under pressure, that is! Have a go, you know you want to :-)

Thanks for posting this - it's great to see the US did so well.

There's another rung of qualifying exams after AIME - students with a high enough AMC/AIME index take the USAMO; top scorers make up the US team.

Here's a little information on the US team:

Xiaoyu He (Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, MA) won a silver medal with 27 points.
Ravi Jagadeesan (Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH) won a gold medal with 28 points.
Mitchell Lee (homeschooled in Oakton, VA) won a gold medal with 29 points.
Bobby Shen (Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas) won a gold medal with 39 points.
Thomas Swayze (Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, CA) won a gold medal with 35 points.
David Yang (Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH) won a gold medal with 36 points.

The fact that Mitchell is homeschooled could be useful information for some of the homeschoolers here, or those contemplating homeschooling. Also, Exeter appears to be very well represented. (I believe one of the Canadian team members also attends Exeter.)

Here's why:

http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_7275.aspx

'On Harkness teaching: "I love it! Students are the ones who do all the work!"'

I think the Harkness method used at Exeter http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_1220.aspx makes less sense for math and science than history or literature, and a gifted student may prefer to listen to a knowledgeable instructor than to participate in lengthy discussions with classmates that are slower and less informed than he is.

Exeter teaches math through problem sets , available at http://www.exeter.edu/academics/72_6539.aspx , and does not use textbooks. I don't favor this approach either. It is true that many Exeter students do well on math competitions, and the school deserves credit for sharing its materials.

Zuming Feng, Exeter math teacher and coach, also teaches at Idea Math , where some of the same materials are used http://www.ideamath.org/LexCourse.htm .

My 9yo boy has enjoyed playing with "Peanut Software" produced by an Exeter teacher http://math.exeter.edu/rparris/ .

I'll make this the "ignored academic competitions thread".

The 44th International Chemistry Olympiad was recently held in Washington, D.C. According to http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2012/07/31/349355/High-School.htm , South Korea was first, followed by Taiwan. "Preparatory problems" are at http://www.icho2012.org/44th_International_Chemistry_Olympiad_Preparatory_Problems__Solutions.pdf .

Even though the contest was held in the nation's capital, I don't see any stories in the U.S. media and cannot say how the U.S. team placed (other than not 1st or 2nd).

One should recognize that US team had 4 or 5 Chinese/Indians in their team.

I thought they were all Americans.

My son and his friends, all of whom are the children of immigrants from Taiwan, India and Pakistan, just say 'Asian invasion' when they get to a math or science competition and see the ethnic makeup of the contestants.

Members of the USA's IMO team have to have been citizens or residents of the USA, or they wouldn't have been eligible to compete.

http://www.app.com/article/20120801/NJNEWS/308010018/Student-holds-Physics-gold
Middletown teen wins physics gold in Estonia
by Kathleen Hopkins
Asbury Park Press
Aug 1, 2012

...

The United States team tied for third place with Korea and Russia, each earning three gold medals and two silver medals. China and Taiwan tied for first place with five gold medals, and Singapore placed second with four gold medals.

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The article profiles a gold medalist. The problems and solutions are at http://www.ipho2012.ee/home/ . Details on the qualifying exams for Americans are at http://aapt.org/physicsteam/2012/registration.cfm .