News: Bulletin 2 from Adrian (16:14 BST, 20 July 2005)

Dear all,

We are now returned from Mérida, safe and well. I’m sorry that we were not able to keep in touch with you as much as usual during the IMO—computers were scarce, and our lives were further complicated during the last couple of days of the IMO by the arrival of Hurricane Emily.

The IMO papers and full results are available on the IMO website at www.imo2005.org

The UK came 13th with 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals, a very good performance indeed for us. I shall not comment on the problems, since I imagine that many of you may still want to have a go at them.

For the first time in ten years, a special prize was awarded this year, to a student from Moldova who found an extremely quick and elegant solution to problem 3.

IMO 2005 will go down as one of the best ever. The Mexicans were warm and generous hosts, and very well organized throughout. The accommodation was excellent. So too was the co-ordination of the exam scripts, which is always a (the?) make-or-break test for a good IMO.

Many thanks to Joseph for the excellent support that he provided back in the UK, and thanks once again to all of you for all your brilliant assistance with UK IMO preparation this year.

Best wishes, Adrian

(Full text of message available.)

Previous news item: Hurricane Emily (18 July 2005).

Next news item: IMO 2005 results (16–20 July 2005).