International mathematical olympiad

Today mathematical competitions are very popular with primary and secondary school students and there are many countries all around the world where they are regularly organised. There are several rounds and a lot of students are included, especially at the beginning rounds. The best students from the previous round have the right to continue on the higher level of competition. The final level for the secondary school student competitors is the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The team for the IMO from Croatia is determined at the National Competition which is held in May. The first mathematical competitions were organised in Hungary in 1894, and in Romania in 1898. Mathematical competitions in Croatia for the secondary school students started in 1959 and next year the first Federal Competition was held, which was then organised every year until 1991. Romania was the initiator of the first international competition. The idea of organizing it came from the Romanian mathematician Tiberiu Roman in 1956, and mathematics is still his great love, although he is 83 years old. After detailed preparations the first International Mathematical Olympiad was held in Romania in 1959, as well as the second one in 1960. At the beginning only the following countries from the Eastern Europe participated: Bulgaria, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the USSR. In 1963 Yugoslavia participated for the first time, and after that new and new countries from Europe arrived. The first Olympiad in Yugoslavia took place in Cetinje, Montenegro, in 1967, and the second one in Belgrade in 1977. 21 countries took part at that 19 th IMO. Cuba was the first non-European country which participated at the 13 th IMO, in 1971, and it was the host country in 1987. Australia participated for the first time at the 22 nd IMO in 1981, and was the host country in 1988, when the 200 th anniversary of Europeans inhabiting that continent was. In 1980 the IMO was not organized, and only some local olympiads were held. In 1993 Croatia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia became regular members of IMO. In 1999 the 40 th IMO was organized in Romania, and it was the fifth one held in this country (the previous ones had been held in 1959, 1960, 1969, 1978). During the last few years there where about 80 countries and 450 contestants at the IMO.