The Australian team at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam, has won a Silver Medal, four Bronze Medals and an Honourable Mention.

The Silver Medal was won by Year 11 Sydney Grammar School student Max Menzies.

The Bronze Medals were won by Ildar Gaisin, of All Saints Anglican School, Qld, Giles Gardam, of Hurlstone Agricultural High School, who lives in Hay NSW and boards, Irene Lo, of James Ruse Agricultural High School, and Anthony Morris, of Sydney Boys High School. The remaining member of the team, Sen Lin, of James Ruse Agricultural High School, was given an Honourable Mention for solving Problem 4.

Max Menzies missed a Gold Medal by just one point, and was placed equal 40th of the 520 students participating. The Australian Bronze Medals were also in the upper part of the range.

Australia is placed in 22nd position, of 93 teams, four places higher than in 2006. In doing so no country which was below Australia in 2006 has risen above Australia in 2007. Instead, Australia has passed ahead of Canada, Great Britain, Slovakia, Mexico and Israel. North Korea returned to the IMO after an absence of 16 years and was placed 8th.

The result is particularly pleasing because none of the students in the team have previous IMO experience.

Click here the hear Max's interview with ABC's Adam Spencer after the Closing Ceremony.

Russia had the highest score, folowed by China. South Korea and hosts Vietnam were tied for 3rd. Other country scores are listed below.

Results of the Australian students are:

		NAME	YR	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	TOT
		GAISIN Ildar All Saints Anglican School QLD	12	4	1	0	7	7	0	19
		GARDAM Giles Hurlstone Agricultural High School NSW	11	7	1	2	7	1	1	19
		LIN Sen James Ruse Agricultural High School NSW	11	0	1	0	7	1	0	9
		LO Irene James Ruse Agricultural High School NSW	11	3	7	0	7	1	0	18
		MENZIES Max Sydney Grammar School NSW	11	7	7	0	7	7	0	28
		MORRIS Anthony Sydney Boys High School NSW	12	7	3	0	7	0	0	17
		TOTALS		28	20	2	42	17	1	110

(Cut-offs for Bronze, Silver and Gold were 14, 21 and 29 points respectively.)

Team Leader was Dr Angelo Di Pasquale and Deputy Leader Mr Norman Do, both from the University of Melbourne.

Max celebrates his Silver Medal during the Closing Ceremony.

The Australian medallists during the Closing Ceremony, from left Max, Giles, Ildar, Irene and Anthony.

The team afterwards, from left Ildar, Max, Giles, Anthony, Irene and Sen.

Medals were presented at the Closing Ceremony at the National Convention Centre, Hanoi, in the evening of Monday 31 July, attended by Vietnam's President H.E. Mr Nguyen Minh Triet.

Professor Peter Taylor, Executive Director of the Australian Mathematics Trust, which administers Australia's involvement in the IMO, acknowledged the support of the Australian Government, through its Department of Education, Science and Training.

"Participation in this Olympiad, which is sanctioned by UNESCO, is just the tip of the iceberg for a complete range of mathematics enrichment activities made available by the Trust. At the first level several hundred thousand students take part in the Australian Mathematics Competition for the Westpac Awards, in schools throughout Australia. At the next level, over 20,000 students enrol in the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians and after that the top students are invited to take part in further training leading to possible selection in the Australian team", he said.

"All of these students enhance their knowledge, and particularly their problem solving capabilities, which are so vital for making them ready for employment or future University study."

In addition to significant Australian Government support, Australia's participation at the International Mathematical Olympiad also receives support from the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and the Australian Mathematical Society.

Some Country Scores

These are unofficial and as we obtained. There may be errors.

01 Russia         184
02 China          181
03 South Korea    168
03 Vietnam        168
05 USA            155
06 Japan          154
06 Ukraine        154
08 North Korea    151
09 Taiwan         149
10 Bulgaria       148
11 Romania        147
12 Hong Kong      143
12 Iran           143
14 Thailand       133
15 Germany        132
16 Hungary        129
17 Turkey         124
18 Belarus        119
19 Moldova        118
20 Italy          116
20 Poland         116
22 Australia      110
23 Serbia         107
24 Brazil         106
25 India          103
26 Georgia        102  
27 Canada          98
28 Kazakhstan      95
29 Great Britain   93
29 Colombia        93
31 Lithuania       92
32 Peru            91
33 Greece          89
34 Mongolia        88
34 Uzbekistan      88 
36 Singapore       87
37 Mexico          86
37 Slovakia        86
39 Slovenia        85
40 Austria         82
41 Sweden          80
42 Czech Republic  79
42 France          79
42 Norway          79
45 Belgium         78
46 Croatia         76
47 Argentina       75
48 Macau           73
49 Armenia         72
50 Israel          71
50 New Zealand     71
52 Indonesia       69
52 Azerbaijan      69
54 Macedonia       68
55 Netherlands     65
56 Estonia         64
56 Bosnia and Herz 64
58 Albania         59
58 Switzerland     59
60 Latvia          58
61 Finland         55
62 Portugal        52
63 Ireland         51
63 Turkmenistan    51
65 Denmark         50
66 Spain           48
67 Kyrgistan       43
68 South Africa    42
69 Cyprus          41
70 El Salvador     40
71 Trinidad and T  39
72 Tajikstan       37
73 Costa Rica      36
74 Pakistan        35
74 Iceland         35
76 Malaysia        34
76 Luxembourg      34
76 Ecuador         34
79 Paraguay        32
79 Sri Lanka       32
81 Bangladesh      31
82 Morocco         28
83 Cambodia        26
84 Philippines     21
85 Nigeria         20
86 Montenegro      17
87 Cuba            16
88 Liechtenstein   14
89 Venezuela       12
90 Puerto Rico      7
91 Saudi Arabia     5
92 Chile            4
93 Bolivia          2