Romania took part at the 2001 International Mathematical Olympiad in Washington, DC with a team of 6 high school students. These were Ana Caraiani (Rom 1) from Bucureşti, Răzvan Iagăr (Rom 2) from Râmnicu Vâlcea, Andrei Jorza (Rom 3) from Arad, Mihai Manea (Rom 4) from Galaţi, Liviu Păunescu (Rom 5) from Constanţa, Valentin Vornicu (Rom 6) from Bucureşti.
 

Rom 1
Rom 2
Rom 3
Rom 4
Rom 5
Rom 6

Many things can be said about the International Mathematical Olympiad and the Romanian Selection Tests that lead to it. However, one thing is certain: any person to have the chance of taking part at the IMO is permanently marked by this exquisite experience.

It all starts with the two to four week Olympiad program that takes place in Bucharest, during which the team is selected. There are three selection tests which, together with the first one during the National Mathematical Olympiad, are the ones to decide who gets the remarkable chance of being on the team. Press here to see the selection problems...

After the team has been settled, the preparation for the IMO continues with the training session in Sinaia. Many thanks to Mr. Adrian Ghioca who made our training session in Sinaia possible. This period, usually lasting two to three weeks, offers unique experiences as well as the chance to better know one another before the IMO.

in front of Sinaia High School...

our room in Sinaia... and Mihai...

ping pong in Sinaia common room...


 

A little something about this year's Romanian contestants

Rom 1 - Ana Caraiani.

She is from Bucureşti and this was her first IMO. A fan of quantum physics and relativity, she is also the genuine roller coaster freak fond of philosophy. She has won silver medals at the Yakutsk International Math Contest, at two Balkan Mathematical Olympiads and at this IMO.
She is now a sophomore and if you ever meet her, please make her stop yelling.


me and Ana...


Rom 2 - Răzvan .

He is the first student from Râmnicu Vâlcea to participate at the IMO. Răzvan  is especially fond of eating, particularly sweet cherries. When he grows up he wants to eat in restaurants every or every other evening. A real gourmand - the one and only descendant of Pantagruel - he loathes walking and most calorie burning activities, though he has recently discovered an unforeseen yet incredible talent in soccer. Răzvan  is rather loquacious, a good friend of elaborate redundancies that seem to elude lampoon due to their incredible style.
Răzvan  is going to the University of Bucharest, Department of Mathematics.


Rom 3 - Andrei

I am from Arad, the only representative of Transilvania on the team, and I am at the second IMO. I am truly "dedicated" to the IMO since I have never had the chance of taking part in any other international math contests other than this one. Just like Ana, I have also enhanced my collection of prizes with two IMO silver medals. I have recently formed with Mihai an unbeatable Frisbee team. I am a real fan of playing soccer, though I haven't really had the chance of practicing it too much.
I am going to Harvard University.


Rom 4 - Mihai

Mihai likes ping pong and, just like me, is always ready to take up any kind of sports if it involves the least amount of fun. He has just got the taste of Frisbee.
He is dedicated to Cola before the Olympiad and he regrets not using calculations from the beginning on this IMO's problems 1 and 2. Mihai is three times IMO and BMO gold medalist and I managed to be better than him twice in the tenth grade.
Mihai is going to Princeton University.


Rom 5 - Liviu

Liviu is from Constanţa and, together with Ana, they are the most diffident ones on the team. Although after the two IMO days he lamented on his not being able to get any problem solved, he got a bronze medal well above the lower limit. He is truly the most elegant imprecation concocter, sometimes amazing even the "specialists" in the domain. Liviu often uses a tacit anti-mob propaganda, sometimes eschewing some activities that characterize our throng. However, he played excellent soccer during the IMO.
Liviu is a junior and is currently involved with the exhaustive attempt of getting a scholarship at an American University.


Rom 6 - Valentin

Valentin is the basket whiz of our team, and in the same time a master of garrulous hyperboles. He states that he needs his walkman to start reverberations between his neurons and he literally thrives on Kinley. Valentin is on his first IMO and got an Honorable Mention for solving IMO problem 5, one of the difficult ones on the contest. After graduation next year (hopefully), he is trying to go to an American University.


 

Some of the most memorable sayings of the members of the team

Ana

Nimic... (i.e. Nothing...)
Mi-e frică (i.e. I'm scared), before every roller coaster ride.

Răzvan  

Echipele tari s-au eliminat între ele una pe alta. (i.e. The good teams eliminated themselves one another)
Bă io-s chiar bun la fotbal în apărare, n-ai vazut ce bine am apărat? (i.e. I am really good in defense, did you see how well I defended?)
Mai aduceţi vă rog încă o porţie... (i.e. Would you please bring another plate of food...)
Mie chiar îmi place mâncarea asta. (i.e. I really like this food)

Andrei

(due to a word processing problem, I sometimes postpone acknowledgement of a sentence)

Someone to me: bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
Me: Pardon?
Someone: ble bl...
Me: I know what you said!

Nu te ţin răntauăle... (untranslatable)

Mihai

Aia vrea să-mi coasă fundul şi crede că mie-mi pasa de pantalonii scurţi. (i.e. She wants to stitch my butt and she is concerned with my shorts...)
to me Bă te calca maşina (i.e. Hey, you'll be run over by a car) during Frisbee.
to me hai să fim bărbaţi şi să fugim prin ploaie... (i.e. let's be men and run in the rain) after 2 minutes...bă ce rău e să fii barbat câteodată... (i.e. it really sucks to be a man sometimes).

Frecatul mentei, Băi ţurlică. (untranslatable)

Liviu

Fi-ţi-ar. (untranslatable)

Valentin

(regarding the band he uses to wipe off his sweat during the basketball game)
Someone to him: Why don't NBA players wear any like that?
Valentin: these are expensive... (poor NBA guys)

Air France is the best... (holding his wrecked airplane seat in his hands)


 

Memorable outputs of non team members

Jon Raasch (guide for Romania):

Just don't call it phrasal verb.
Don't be late.
Funky.

Lawrence (guide for Netherlands):

Me: Hey, how're you doing?
Lawrence: ?, ?, I, I, I don't...know...

An intern at the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC:

Şi cum este la olimpiada asta, grilă? (i.e. And what is this IMO like, multiple choice?)

George W. Bush, President of USA:

"... you have proved excellence in various fields of mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry..."

The unanimous conclusion of Mihai Baluna and me: Şi ratota are miros de hamburger. (Even omelet smells like hamburger)

Mihai Baluna:

Save your breath.


with Mihai Baluna, at the White House...

Bogdan Enescu:

Să ne fie de bine. (untranslatable)
No saying, just an irreproducibly subtle smile...


 
 

What happened before and during the IMO

One day we decided to go on an excursion in the woods. Nothing superciliously out of the ordinary yet... However, it was 8pm and it was raining. Anyway, we did go in the woods and at about 10pm, all wet and lost in the dark, we groped our way back to Sinaia High School, overwhelmed by the "euphony" of barking dogs. With all the physical inconveniences that it posed, the excursion rests as one of the most interesting parts of our stay in Sinaia.


in the woods...


One week before the IMO, the Romanian Team left for the USA for a joint training session with the USA Team. This period of one week had to be embellished with some exotic events, such as a trip to Alexandria, Virginia. Anyway, due to some kind of an Einsteinian paradox, our watches desynchronized with respect to the boat's watch, which concluded in our (Mihai's and mine) being 30 seconds late for departure. Perhaps we were running so fast towards the ship that a time paradox occurred. Cool...

On the 4th of July, the day the IMO officially started, we were supposed to go on a boat trip on the Potomac for the fireworks. As we were waiting for the scheduled departure, we embarked on an encroachment into the classical Washington neighborhood. We were "kindly" welcomed by the "natives" who started shooting with paint balls, after having pursued the easy prey (i.e. us). Mihai and I were hit three times, some other members of our team, twice. Răzvan  on the other hand, through "guile" and swift motions, managed to elude all incoming alien objects.

Mihai tore his thigh into pieces while playing Frisbee during the baseball match.

while the rest of us were having a little fun...


On the Second Day of the IMO, right after lunch and before leaving for the Romanian Embassy in USA a rather peculiar event triggered an undesired yet very somnific wait. Some contestant at the IMO accidentally pushed the fire alarm, and although it was quite obvious that no tragic fire had overcome the dorm, we had to wait outside for the fire department to arrive. A typical example of the good old American saying better safe than sorry. What shocked us (at least me) was the seriousness with which two hours (almost) were dedicated to make sure that no fire had occurred. Anyway, the fire department had done its job impeccably once again and we were saved for the embassy visit later on that day.

Ana and I had a 10 hour roller coaster experience where we had a close encounter with the hypersonic - the ultimate high speed launcher. While staying in lines we "embroiled" a word vie. Some of the queerest words came to surface, sometimes concealed under the elegant form of an apparently precious and nice word. The one that protrudes through my mind is imund (Romanian).

Ana, Mihai and I almost got busted for peace disturbance while exquisitely fulfilling our propensity towards drum beating after the IMO closing banquet (1am). We had received some drumsticks at the opening ceremony and we tried to use them properly -on a trash bin - while "playing" our national anthem.

a snapshot, before...


Valentin forgot his precious-photo containing camera in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and had to take a really long trip to get it back.

About a quarter of an hour before landing in Paris on our way back from Washington, our Airbus 340 was caught in a dramatic series of rough turbulences. After a hardly audible message from the captain the turbulences became so strong that we had to fasten our seatbelts not to jump off our seats. One of the air hostesses hit her head to the luggage compartment. I told Mihai: "Şi când te gandeşti că mai avem 15 minute" (i.e. And when you think we have less than 15 minutes until Paris) and Mihai replied: "Încă oleacă şi ajungeam..." (i.e. A little more and we would have arrived).

Take a look at our reactions when we saw the results of the contest...

Ana...

well, me...

(these events are enumerated in a rough chronological order)

The Extremes
(if members of the Romanian Team wish to contribute to this section, please send me an email)

The best team on IMO problem 2: Cyprus.

Most out of this world at this IMO: Fermat's Last Tango during the closing banquet.

The person most "fluent" in English is by far the Chinese leader who was kind enough to gibber (if this is embellished enough) the reasons for which the Chinese team has become 1st IMO team for the third time in a row.

Most exoteric theorem of the IMO: The Taniyama- Shimura theorem: any elliptic curve has a modular form representation.

Most unfathomable: life in a space without a line and how to turn a sphere inside out without piercing it.

Most soporific: the supercalifragilistic "expirational" talk of Mr. Witten on quantum string theory. At least as many "transcended" to the stargazing of their subconsciousness (just a fancy Freudian view of dreaming) as won a medal.


 

Miscellanea

His Excellency, the Ambassador of Romania in the USA, was kind enough to offer ous a personal view on the United States:

Teritoriul acesta mare ne inspiră. (i.e. We find this immense territory inspiring).


with his Excellency, the Ambassador...

Thanks to the USA team who were a great host during the common training session that preceded the IMO: Reid, Gabriel, Ian, Tiankai, Oaz and David.

During the training session for the IMO, the west and the east of Romania exchanged words. Unfortunately only the Romanian version is worth giving:
West (me): gyug, ratotă, satyor, straiţă, pityeică, leciău, măcriş, o ţâră, umblat lela, clisă
East and South : oleacă, a freca menta, fes, făraş, grefă, şuncă (pentru slănină).

Special thanks to our leader dr. Mircea Becheanu and to our deputy leaders and coaches prof. Mihai Băluna and prof. Bogdan Enescu for their leadership of our team.


before the contest...

That is almost all I can remember interesting about the Romanian Team. If you have anything else to add, do not hesitate to contact me.

Press here to go back to the Mathematics Page...

Andrei Jorza
jorza@fas.harvard.edu