Two Bronze Medals and Four Certificates of Appreciation in International Mathematics Olympiad
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, a new global achievement by winning six international awards (two bronze medals and four certificates of appreciation) at the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO 2020), which was held virtually from September 18th to 26th, with the participation of more than 105 countries.
The two bronze medals were achieved by student Marwan Muhammad Al-Khayyat from the Makkah Education Department, who previously won a gold medal in the Balkan Junior Mathematics Olympiad in 2019, and a gold medal in the Gulf Mathematics Olympiad 2019, and during his career with “Mawhiba", he achieved two silver medals during his participation in the Asian and Pacific Mathematics Olympiad that was held this year 2020, and his participation in the Balkan Junior Mathematics Olympiad in 2018. Marwan also contributed to raising the nation's balance of achievements by achieving 5 bronze medals since joining "Mawhiba" in its international participation in representing the country in international competitions.
In his first achievement in his international participation, student Mustafa Helmy Al-Alaq from the Eastern Education Department achieved the bronze medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad, while student Hamza Ibrahim Al-Shaikhi won a certificate of appreciation, to be added to his record in international participation, which is represented by 3 medals and two certificates of appreciation, and student Thana Khalid Al-Haidari from the Makkah Education Department won 8 medals since the beginning of her participation in the international competitions in 2016, which varied among silver, bronze and 4 certificates of appreciation. Student Muhammad Saad Al-Shehri won three medals and two certificates of appreciation, while student Khalid Hamad Al-Ajran from the Riyadh Education Department, won 7 medals, ranging from gold, silver, and bronze medals, to two certificates of appreciation. All such students are Mawhiba students who were nominated by Mawhiba competition at the beginning of their career towards international participation.
The Kingdom participated in the competition with a team of 6 students, they are:
Hamza Ibrahim Al-Shaikhi, Marwan Muhammad Al-Khayyat, Thanaa Khalid Al-Haidari from the Makkah Education Department, Muhammad Saad Al-Shehri, Khalid Ajran from the Riyadh Education Department, and Mustafa Helmy Al-Alaq from the Eastern Education Department, all of whom are MAWHIBA students who were nominated from the MAWHIBA competition at the beginning of their career towards international representation.
The Saudi team participating in the competition received nearly 3000 training hours, over more than 3 years.
The team members were nominated through a series of tests and evaluation results at training forums held in cooperation with Mawhiba, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.
This is the Kingdom's 16th participation in the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), as the Kingdom achieved 52 awards throughout its participation in the competition, including 7 silver, 31 bronze medals, and 14 certificates of appreciation, all of which were achieved after Mawhiba took over the training responsibility in 2009.
It is worth noting that the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) is the first institution in the world in the field of talent discovery, nurturing, and empowerment, as it succeeded in discovering and sponsoring more than 161 thousand talented students from Saudi Arabia, and expanded its work in various countries, and recorded successes International achievements by 390 international qualitative wins in original scientific competitions.
