Romania scored four gold medals and two silver medals at the recent Balkan Math Olympiad which took place in Cyprus between June 25 and July 2. The unofficial ranking of medals placed Romania first among all participant countries, according to the Romanian Math Society. The Romanian team, made of six students, and two coaches, were to return to the country on July 3.

Gold medals went to Marius Bocanu from Piteşti, Andrei Bud from Negreşti Oaş, Simona Diaconu from Bucharest, and Omer Cerrahoglu from Baia Mare. The silver medals went to Stefan Spătaru from Alexandria and Paul Musca, who studies in Bucharest. All of them are high school students.Other gold medals went to Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Serbia, one for each country. The full ranking is here.

One of the gold medalists, Omer Cerrahoglu (in picture), 18, is close to becoming Romania's best Math Olympiad winner of all times, having won multiple medals at international competitions so far.

The Balkan Math Olympiad gathered 11 countries in the Balkans, and 8 guest countries, in total, 120 competitors.

Last year, Romania won the first place in Europe at the International Math Olympics this year and 10th among 100 countries in the world. Two Romanians, Radu Bumbacea and Omer Cerrahoglu won gold medals at the 2012 Math Olympiad in Mar del Plata, Argentina, which took place between July 4 and 16. The unofficial ranking after the competition placed Romania first in Europe, based on the number of points received by participants from each country. Koreans, Chinese and Americans took up the first places in the world, out of 584 contestants. Romania had a team of six at the International Olympiad in 2012.

editor@romania-insider.com