Year 13 pupil Gabriel Gendler is celebrating after achieving the remarkable feat of being selected as a member of the UK’s International Mathematical Olympiad squad for the third consecutive year.
The squad is drawn from those who have achieved success in the British Mathematical Olympiad and thus brings together an élite group of the country’s finest mathematicians.
“This selection represents a substantial achievement for Gabriel,” said the Headmaster, Neil Enright. “Two years ago Gabriel was the reserve; last year he was selected for the team that competed in Santa Marta, Colombia, and achieved a silver medal – the first QE boy ever to reach the team. His ambition is to achieve a gold, if picked for the team this year, and our best wishes go with him and the rest of the UK squad.”
Gabriel was selected as one of 20 pupils from schools all over the UK to participate in the UK IMO’s training camp at Trinity College in Cambridge last month. The invitations were based on performances in earlier selection rounds and previous experience in the competition. At the end of the Cambridge training camp he learnt that he had been selected as one of the nine-strong squad for this year’s IMO which will take place in Cape Town, South Africa. He will learn later this month whether he will form part of the six-strong team or be one of the three reserves.
Gabriel has been offered a place at Trinity College, Cambridge, to study Mathematics in the autumn and is looking forward to a career closely linked to the subject.
Contestants in the IMO must answer six problems, each worth seven points. It was first held in Romania in 1959 and has since been held annually, except in 1980. Participants must be under the age of 20 and must not be registered at any higher education institution, so this will be Gabriel’s final opportunity to take part before taking up his university place.