Six high school students from the United States achieved a historic first at the 35th International Mathematical Olympiad in Hong Kong Tuesday - they all had perfect scores.
Officials said never in the competition have all members of a team managed to score the maximum 42 points in geometry and other mathematical tests."I am very proud of the performance of our team," said Professor Walter Mientka of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, leader of the U.S. team. More than 600 students from 70 countries and territories competed in the contest, organized by London's International Mathematical Olympiad Advisory Committee and the Hong Kong Mathematical Society.
Some 192 medals were awarded with golds going to students who scored at least 40 points, silver to those with at least 30 points and bronze for those with at least 20.
China finished second with three golds and three silvers, and Russia was third with three golds, two silvers and one bronze.
U.S. team members were Jeremy Bem of Ithaca (N.Y.) High School, Aleksandr Khazanov of Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Jacob Lurie of Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland, Noam Shazeer of Swamp- scott (Mass.) High School, Stephen Wang of Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and Jonathan Weinstein of Lexington (Mass.) High School.