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Everyone in this community I think would be familiar with International Mathematical Olympiad, which is an International Mathematics Competition held for high school students, with many countries participating from around the world.

What's interesting to note is that many of the IMO participants have gone to win the Fields Medal. Notable personalities include Terence Tao (2006), Ngo Bao Chau (2010), Grigori Perelman (2006), etc.

I would like to know: What advantages does an IMO student possess over a 'normal' student in terms of mathematical research? Does the IMO competition help the student in becoming a good research mathematician or doesn't it?

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    @Chandru1: I can only say for sure that I have already seen a few advertisements from US Universities where the participation in the IMOs is a plus for the candidate.2010-09-17
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    This is something I have wondered too - because I never got into solving the problems from competitions I wonder if I am missing something.2010-09-18
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    This could be debatable but I would say that if one has the capability to do formal mathematics, then, with sufficient practice, one certainly has the capability to solve olympiad problems. On the other hand, certain areas of mathematics literally have no overlap with olympiad problems; for example, the abstract theory of schemes and sheaves.2011-06-12
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    I think it is pretty absurd to say that «many of the IMO participants have gone to win the Fields Medal»! Indeed, only an insignificant number of IMO participants have won that medal. A more cheerful statistic would be the proportion among Fields medallists of those who have been IMO participants...2011-09-30
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    The solver of fermats last theorem in not a IMO winner...2014-06-17
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    An example is Manjul Bhargava, who won a fields medal, but **did not compete in IMO, didnt win Putnam etc..**2015-02-08

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