The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is an annual international high school mathematics competition focused primarily on pre-collegiate mathematics, and is the oldest of the international science olympiads. The awards for exceptional performance include medals for roughly the top half participants, and honorable mentions for participants whom solve at least one problem perfectly.
This is a list of participants who have achieved notability. This includes participants that went on to become notable mathematicians, participants who won medals at an exceptionally young age, or participants who scored highly.
Exceptionally young medalists
+NameTeam(s)YearAwardsAge (on final day of IMO)Terence Tao1986Bronze Raúl Chávez Sarmiento 2009BronzeTerence Tao1987SilverAlex Chui2020SilverAkshay Venkatesh1994BronzeYeoh Zi Song2014Bronze12 years, 245 daysRaúl Chávez Sarmiento2010SilverTerence Tao1988GoldWarren Bei2021SilverAlex Chui2021GoldZhuo Qun Song2010Bronze13 years, 170 daysDamjan Davkov2021Silver Arlan Sayat 2025 Bronze Jeremy Kahn1983SilverRaúl Chávez Sarmiento2011GoldPawel Kröger1972Perfect ScorePasin Manurangsi2007SilverWarren Bei2022GoldÖmer Cerrahoğlu2009GoldYi Shuen Yeoh2025SilverPipitchaya Sridam2021GoldZhuo Qun Song2011Gold14 years, 170 daysWilliam Cheah2023Silver14 years, 181 daysDamjan Davkov2022SilverJanson Ho2025SilverHarvey Yau2014SilverJeremy Kahn1984SilverLisa Sauermann2007SilverNoam Elkies1981Perfect ScorePasin Manurangsi2008GoldAleksandr Khazanov1994Perfect ScoreSergei Konyagin1972Perfect ScoreJacob Tsimerman2003GoldEthan Yong-Ern Tan2018GoldSimon P. Norton1967GoldVladimir Drinfeld1969Perfect ScoreDamjan Davkov2023GoldYuliy Sannikov1994Perfect ScoreYang Yihan2024Gold
High-scoring participants
The following table lists all IMO Winners who have won at least three gold medals, with corresponding years and non-gold medals received noted (P denotes a perfect score.)
Name Team(s) Years Alex Chui Hong Kong ('20, '21) United Kingdom ('22, '23, '24, '25, '26) 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 P Zhuo Qun Song Canada 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 P Teodor von Burg Serbia 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Lisa Sauermann Germany 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 P Nipun Pitimanaaree 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Christian Reiher Germany 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Alexander Wang United States 2023 2024 2025 2026 P Luke Robitaille United States 2019 2020 2021 2022 Reid W. Barton United States 1998 1999 2000 2001 P Warren Bei Canada 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 P Wolfgang Burmeister East Germany 1967 1968 1969 1970 P 1971 Iurie Boreico Moldova 2003 2004 2005 P 2006 P 2007 Lim Jeck Singapore 2009 2010 2011 2012 P 2013 Martin Härterich West Germany 1985 1986 1987 P 1988 1989 László Lovász Hungary 1963 1964 1965 P 1966 P Hungary 1963 1964 1965 1966 P Nikolay Nikolov 1992 1993 1994 1995 P Kentaro Nagao Japan 1997 1998 1999 2000 Vladimir Barzov Bulgaria 1999 2000 2001 2002 Peter Scholze Germany 2004 2005 P 2006 2007 Pranjal Srivastava India 2018 2019 2021 2022 Makoto Soejima Japan 2005 2007 2008 2009 P Alex Gunning Australia 2012 2013 2014 P 2015 Andrew Carlotti United Kingdom 2010 2011 2012 2013 Simon Norton United Kingdom 1967 1968 1969 P John Rickard United Kingdom 1975 P 1976 1977 P Sergei Ivanov Soviet Union 1987 P 1988 1989 P Theodor Banica Romania 1989 1990 1991 Eugenia Malinnikova Soviet Union 1989 1990 P 1991 P Sergey Norin Russia 1994 P 1995 P 1996 Yuliy Sannikov Ukraine 1994 P 1995 1996 Ciprian Manolescu Romania 1995 P 1996 P 1997 P Ivan Ivanov Bulgaria 1996 1997 1998 Nikolai Dourov Russia 1996 1997 1998 Tamás Terpai Hungary 1997 1998 1999 Stefan Hornet Romania 1997 1998 1999 Vladimir Dremov Russia 1998 1999 2000 Mihai Manea Romania 1999 2000 2001 Tiankai Liu United States 2001 2002 2004 Oleg Golberg Russia ('02, '03) United States ('04) 2002 2003 2004 Béla András Rácz Hungary 2002 2003 2004 P Andrey Badzyan Russia 2002 2003 2004 P Rosen Kralev Bulgaria 2003 2004 2005 P Przemysław Mazur Poland 2006 2007 2008 Tak Wing Ching Hong Kong 2009 2010 2011 Chung Song Hong North Korea 2011 2012 2013 Dong Ryul Kim South Korea 2012 2013 2014 Allen Liu United States 2014 2015 2016 P Sheldon Kieren Tan Singapore 2014 2015 2016 Pavel Ciurea Romania 2023 2024 2025 Yang Yihan Singapore 2024 2025 2026
Notable participants Mathematicians A number of IMO participants have gone on to become notable mathematicians. The following IMO participants have either received a Fields Medal, an Abel Prize, a Wolf Prize or a Clay Research Award, awards which recognise groundbreaking research in mathematics; a European Mathematical Society Prize, an award which recognizes young researchers; or one of the American Mathematical Society's awards (a Blumenthal Award in Pure Mathematics, Bôcher Memorial Prize in Analysis, Cole Prize in Algebra, Cole Prize in Number Theory, Fulkerson Prize in Discrete Mathematics, Steele Prize in Mathematics, or Veblen Prize in Geometry and Topology) recognizing research in specific mathematical fields. Grigori Perelman proved the Poincaré conjecture (one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems), and Yuri Matiyasevich gave a negative solution of Hilbert's tenth problem.
G denotes an IMO gold medal, S denotes a silver medal, B denotes a bronze medal, and P denotes a perfect score.
Name Team IMO Fields Medal Wolf Prize EMS Prize AMS research prizes Clay Award Abel Prize Grigory Margulis Soviet Union S 1962 1978 2005 2020 George Lusztig Romania S 1963, S 1962 1985 (Cole algebra) Henryk Iwaniec Poland S 1966, 1965 2002 (Cole number theory) László Lovász Hungary P 1966, P 1965, G 1964, S 1963 1999 1982, 2012 (Fulkerson) 2021 Andrei Suslin Soviet Union G 1967 2000 (Cole algebra) János Pintz Hungary B 1969, P 1968,B 1967 2014 (Cole number theory) Vladimir Drinfeld Soviet Union P 1969 1990 2018 Andrei Zelevinsky Soviet Union S 1969 2018 (Steele) Alexander Merkurjev Soviet Union S 1972 2012 (Cole algebra) Pierre-Louis Lions France 1973 1994 János Kollár Hungary P 1974, G 1973 2006 (Cole algebra) Jean-Christophe Yoccoz France P 1974, S 1973 1994 Sergey Fomin Soviet Union S 1974 2018 (Steele) Paul Vojta United States P 1975 1992 (Cole number theory) Alexander Goncharov Soviet Union G 1976 1992 Richard Borcherds United Kingdom G 1978, S 1977 1998 1992 Timothy Gowers United Kingdom P 1981 1998 1996 Peter Kronheimer United Kingdom S 1981 2007 (Veblen) Michel Goemans Belgium 1981, 1982 2000 (Fulkerson) Gábor Tardos Hungary S 1982, S 1981, 1979 1992 Grigori Perelman Soviet Union P 1982 2006Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture, but he declined the Medal. 1996Perelman was awarded an EMS prize for his proof of the Soul theorem, but he declined the prize. Alexis Bonnet France S 1984, S 1983 1996 Laurent Lafforgue France S 1985, S 1984 2002 2000 Daniel Tătaru Romania P 1985, P 1984 2002 (Bôcher) Zoltán Szabó Hungary S 1985 2007 (Veblen) Jeremy Kahn United States G 1986, G 1985, S 1984, S 1983 2012 Ricardo Pérez-Marco Spain S 1986, 1985 1996 Dominic Joyce United Kingdom S 1986 2000 Stanislav Smirnov Soviet Union P 1987, P 1986 2010 2004 2001 Terence Tao Australia G 1988, S 1987, B 1986 2006 2002 (Bôcher) 2003 Elon Lindenstrauss Israel B 1988 2010 2004 2001 (Blumenthal) Ngô Bảo Châu Vietnam G 1989, P 1988 2010 2004 Emmanuel Grenier France B 1989 2000 Vincent Lafforgue France P 1991, P 1990 2000 Eugenia Malinnikova Soviet Union P 1991, P 1990, G 1989 2017 Akshay Venkatesh Australia B 1994 2018 Artur Avila Brazil G 1995 2014 2008 Emmanuel Breuillard France G 1995 2012 Ben J. Green United Kingdom S 1995, S 1994 2008 2004 Maryam Mirzakhani Iran P 1995, G 1994 2014 2009 (Blumenthal) 2014 Boáz Klartag Israel S 1996 2008 Ciprian Manolescu Romania P 1997, P 1996, P 1995 2012 Adrian Ioana Romania S 1999 2012 Mark Braverman G 2000, B 1999, B 1998 2016 Ana Caraiani G 2003, G 2002, S 2001 2020 Kaisa Matomäki 2003, 2002 2020 Jacob Tsimerman P 2004, G 2003 2026 Simion Filip S 2005, B 2004 2020 Yu Deng G 2006 2026 2026 Peter Scholze Germany G 2007, G 2006, P 2005, S 2004 2018 2016 2015 (Cole algebra) 2014
Computer scientists IMO medalists have also gone on to become notable computer scientists. The following IMO medalists have received a IMU Abacus Medal (earlier known as Nevanlinna Prize), a Knuth Prize, or a Gödel Prize; these awards recognise research in theoretical computer science. G denotes an IMO gold medal, S denotes a silver medal, B denotes a bronze medal, and P denotes a perfect score.
Name Team IMO IMU Abacus Medal Knuth Prize Gödel Prize László Lovász Hungary P 1966, P 1965, G 1964, S 1963 1999 2001 László Babai Hungary P 1968, S 1967, S 1966 2015 1993 Johan Håstad Sweden G 1977 1994, 2011 Peter Shor United States S 1977 1998 1999 Alexander Razborov Soviet Union G 1979 1990 2007 Subhash Khot India S 1995, S 1994 2014
Other IMO medalists who have gone on to have notable careers in other fields or professions which aren't mathematics or computer science. G denotes an IMO gold medal, S denotes a silver medal, B denotes a bronze medal, and P denotes a perfect score.
Name Team IMO Accomplishments Nicușor Dan Romania P 1987, P 1988 Mayor of Bucharest (2020–2025), President of Romania (2025–present) David Chalmers Australia B 1982 Notable philosopher and cognitive scientist
See also Provincial Mathematical Olympiad List of mathematics competitions List of International Mathematical Olympiads
Notes
References
External links General information on the IMO International Mathematical Olympiad