Brief Survey

Abstract

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) started in 1959 when Romania invited six other socialist countries to a one-off event. The seven participating coun- tries at the 1st IMO were: Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. A year later Romania repeated the competition, but only 5 countries took part. The next hosts, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, made the IMO an annual competition. The number of participating countries increased steadily from year to year up to the current record of 104 countries at the 50th IMO 2009 in Germany - the first time the 100 mark was exceeded. Several breakthroughs played an important role in this development: for example in 1964 Mongolia was the first non-European country and in 1965 Finland was the first non-socialist country to take part. In 1967 France, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom joined the IMO competition.