Six young maths whizzes flew the South African flag high, clinching second place at the recent 28th Pan-African Mathematical Olympiad (Pamo), in Tunisia.
The team of high school pupils claimed two gold, one silver and two bronze medals when competing against the world’s brightest “mathletes” from 11 countries.
Morocco took first place, followed by South Africa with second, and Tunisia and Algeria in joint third place.
The event was hosted virtually on June 3.
South Africa’s team comprised two Gauteng pupils – Yi Lou, a Grade 12 from St Peter’s College and Tyrone Kasi, a Grade 12 from St Stithians Boys’ College – who both received a gold medal.
While four pupils were from Western Cape, Alex Sinclair-Smith, a Grade 11 from Westerford High School, was named the second best out of the 27 female participants, and received a silver medal.
Shelby le Roux, a Grade 11 pupil from Rustenburg Girls’ High School; Minkyum Kim, a Grade 10 pupil from Reddam House, Durbanville; and Daniella Kaye, a Grade 10 pupil from Herschel Girls’ High School; all received bronze medals.
The South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) executive director Kerstin Jordaan said they were all “incredibly proud” of the team’s performance.
“One of the SAMF’s goals is to expose mathematically gifted pupils to international competitions. A committee chooses the South African international teams from the top-performing pupils in the previous year’s South African Mathematics Olympiad (Samo) and other results of the SAMF Olympiad programmes.
“That means that the top pupils who participate in this year's Samo, of which the third and final round is in July, stand a chance to be selected for next year's Pamo,” said Jordaan.
Jordaan said Covid-19 made participation in Tunisia impossible, but each country’s team came together at a central location and participated virtually – under close supervision from Tunisia’s leaders.
Celiwe Ross, human capital director at Old Mutual, who also celebrated team South Africa, said the results were exceptional and reaffirmed their commitment to support the work of the South African Mathematics Foundation.