Student does math (illustrative)
Student does math (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

A team of Israeli high school students has brought Israel from 31st place to 13th place internationally in mathematics.

The team brought home a gold medal, three silver medals and two bronze medals in the 2013 International Mathematical Olympiad. For the first time, every Israeli competitor among the 600 competitors from around the world brought home a medal.

Israel is now ranked 13 out of 103 countries, up from 31 in 2012, 23 in 2011, and 53 in 2010.

The gold medal went to Omri Solan, an 11th-grade student at Rishonim High School in Herzliya. The other medal winners were Ometz Openheim of Ramat-Gan, Tom Calvery of Ramat Hasharon, Nitzan Tor of Haifa, Yoav Kraus of Holon, and Ofer Grossman, an Israeli citizen who recently moved to the United States.

The other members of Israel’s 19-person team brought home medals in the sciences – five in physics, four in chemistry, and four in computer science.

Director of Science and Technology Dr. Ofer Rimon said, “After three years of hard, focused work, we’re starting to really see results.” Israel is becoming “a dynamic factor in the international elite,” he reported.

“Still,” he added, “we have not yet put students’ full potential to use. We need to keep investing the necessary effort and resources.”