Participation in multiple countries’ IMO programmes

Increasing numbers of pupils have asked about the rules regarding participation in other countries’ olympiad activities. As background, a pupil is eligible to represent the UK at IMO if they either (a) hold British citizenship, or (b) will have completed at least 3 full years of full-time secondary education in the UK at the time they leave school.

Regarding multiple countries’ programmes, the key rules are, that in a given academic year (1st August to 31st July),

1. Representing another country at any international maths competition; or
2. Taking another country’s IMO Team Selection Test; or
3. Attending an event or programme (in person or online) that includes such a IMO Team Selection Test (even if not sitting the paper itself)

means a pupil will not be eligible for the UK IMO team of that academic year, and will not be eligible for any training or selection events within that year’s UK IMO programme.

4. Taking another country’s Team Selection Test for an international mathematics competition other than the IMO

is strongly discouraged, and will often mean a pupil is not eligible for the UK IMO team of that academic year, unless the circumstances are non-standard (see below).

However, subject to the above,

5. Taking another country’s National Olympiad is permitted.

BMO EC is aware that other countries may have different structures to the UK, and that ambiguity can arise. For example, if

• A “National Olympiad” is structurally equivalent to UK Team Selection Tests, e.g. being held at a residential event, and resulting in narrowing down the candidates for the IMO team to ~12 pupils.
• A “Team Selection Test” is structurally equivalent to the British Maths Olympiad, with e.g. >50 participants.
• A paper is called “Team Selection Test” even if it includes many participating pupils who are not eligible for the team.
• A “Team Selection Test” in Year K selects the IMO team for Year K+1.

In such cases, the final decision on eligibility rests with BMO EC noting that the committee has limited capacity to investigate the fine details of other countries’ events.

Other notes

• For British students with permanent residence in another country, BMOS notes significant advantages to IMO training activity in their resident country. In particular: (a) selection for the UK IMO team requires sitting BMO1 and BMO2 and attendance at UK events between April and July; (b) BMO cannot assist with international travel arrangements.
• Very occasionally, UK students may be invited, through UKMT, as guest participants in other country’s events. In this case, exemptions to 2. and 3. above apply, subject to discussion between the IMO Programme Director, BMO Chair and equivalent at the host event.

Summary

Pupils who expect to take a minor part in other countries’ olympiad programmes but wish to remain eligible for the UK IMO team are reminded to be cautious, and to contact bmo-chair@ukmt.org.uk if they are unsure whether their activities comply with this policy.

Motivation

The underlying principle is that places in strong countries’ olympiad training programmes are a scarce and valuable resource that should be shared as widely as possible. The UK IMO programme has good relations with equivalent organisations in other countries, and seeks to avoid discord over an individual pupil’s allegiance. It is also a formal breach of IMO regulations to seek IMO selection for more than one country in a given year.