The medal and the gift from Thanh to her teacher
The 2020 IMO organizing board said that each prize winner could receive two medals, one for the student and one for the teacher.
Medalists have the right to determine to whom they will give the second medals.
There will be the words “To my teacher from a grateful student” on the back of the medal.
On January 8, at the ceremony to commend high school students who have won medals at international Olympiads, the students of the national mathematics team received the medals.
Chu Thi Thanh, a bronze medalist and the only female student of this year’s national team to attend the 2020 IMO, and a former student of the Vinh Phuc High School for the Gifted, decided to give the second medal to Nguyen Duy Lien, the teacher, who discovered and fostered her talent in Vinh Phuc.
In addition to the medal, Thanh also gave her teacher mathematics books that she said would be better used by the teacher.
Lien said it was a surprise to receive the gift from Thanh.
“There are few students who can understand teachers’ hobbies,” he explained. “I am happy that I can teach a near perfect student."
Lien is known in Vietnam as the teacher of the students winning international medals. Over the last 25 years of working as a mathematics teacher, he has helped trained 50 national excellent students and 3 IMO medalists, including Nguyen Xuan Truong, a gold medalist at IMO 2002, Do Van Quyet, gold medalist at 2017 IMO, and Chu Thi Thanh.
Tran Nhat Minh, the winner of another bronze medal, a former student at the Le Hong Phong High School For the Gifted in Nam Dinh, decided to give the medal to Nguyen Hoang Cuong, the teacher leading the school’s mathematics team.
Meanwhile, Doan Thu Huong, the mother of Ngo Quy Dang, an 11th grader at the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences, said her son is still in ‘acute hesitation’. Dang received the medal on January 8, but still cannot decide whom to give the medal.
“In his path to success, Dang knew many wonderful teachers who have taught him and given advice. It is really difficult to make a decision. He is still thinking about this,” Huong said.
Ngo Quy Dang is the youngest member of the Vietnamese national team attending IMO 2020 and he won a gold medal. He got 36 out of 42 score and ranked fourth among this year’s attendants.
Thanh Hung
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