La Jornada: Mexican wins the Maryam Mirzakhani award

Mexican Andrea Sarahí Cascante Duarte, originally from the state of Morelos and member of the team that represented the country in the 67th International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), won the Maryam Mirzakhani prize in that competition that concluded last Sunday in Shanghai, China.

This is a special recognition to the women with the highest score or the most outstanding performances for each continent. The name of the medal pays tribute to the Iranian mathematician who was the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Medal and who also made history by qualifying and winning multiple gold medals for her country in this same competition.

The other five members of the national team, who won bronze medals, are Takumi Higashida Martínez and Javier Caram Quirós, from Mexico City; Juan Luis Manriquez Sequera, from Baja California Sur; Sebastián Montemayor Trujillo, from Nuevo León, and Iker Torres Terrazas, from Chihuahua. Andrea also obtained honorable mention.

The IMO has been bringing together pre-university young people for almost seven decades. This is the most important mathematics competition in the world. On this occasion, 606 students from 117 countries participated, “not only to fight for honor, but also to contribute to an international community beyond borders, religions and politics,” explain the organizers.

Thanks to the score obtained by the Mexican team, they placed third in Latin America, after Brazil and Peru, and in 40th place in the general medal table. The first five places worldwide went to China, the United States, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Mexican team was accompanied by professors Luis Eduardo García Hernández (leader), Eric Ransom Treviño (tutor) and Víctor Antonio Domínguez Silva (observer A), members of the Mexican Mathematics Olympiad (OMM), an academic program of the Mexican Mathematical Society that this year celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The WMO has well-established structures in the 32 states of the Mexican Republic and has national and international scope, with the objective of “teaching mathematics to generate an atmosphere conducive to the study of that discipline in the children and youth of our country, as well as reaching the largest possible number of primary, secondary and high school students so that they can develop humanistic skills, curiosity, confidence, strength and coexistence.” It is also responsible for selecting the teams that represent the country in the main national and international competitions through high-level training.

Support for the participation of girls and young people

The president of the WMO Organizing Committee, Guadalupe Russell Noriega, said that the solidarity and support of some institutions, companies and the general public “have made it possible for this program not to be interrupted and for us to continue giving the opportunity to thousands of students not only to enhance their taste for mathematics, but also to show their abilities by representing Mexico in the most prestigious competitions with great achievements for all. On this occasion, our gratitude goes to the Plata bank and Casa Córdoba.

“The Olympic community is made up of a great team of volunteers, teachers and students from the main universities in the country, as well as mathematics teachers from all pre-university levels. There are approximately 300 people who contribute their talent and commitment to carry out each of our activities free of charge.

“In the last two years, the Mexican Mathematics Olympiad has grown and incorporated new activities at the state, national and international level; for example, the National Women’s Contest, which emerged in 2022 as a temporary effort to help gender balance in the WMO. We seek not only to increase the percentage of participation of girls and young people, but also to generate safe spaces where they can develop academically and impact greater participation in the Mexican delegations that represent us in international competitions,” he concluded.