Glory for Bishopstown as Anna wins bronze medal in Brazil

A BISHOPSTOWN Community School student has won a bronze medal at an international maths competition in Brazil.

Fifth-year student Anna Mustata was one of two students on Team Ireland to secure a medal at last week's International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which was held in Rio de Janeiro.

Cillian Doherty, a sixth-year student from Coláiste Eoin in Booterstown, Dublin also picked up a bronze medal at the competition.

Some 112 countries competed at this year's Olympiad, with Team Ireland enjoying their best ever performance by picking up two medals.

Anna, Cillian and the rest of the Irish competitors returned to Ireland yesterday, with each of the other four members of the team receiving honourable mentions for their part in the event.

For Anna, it was the latest in a long line of academic successes in recent years.

She also claimed a silver medal at the 2015 Maths Olympiad, which was held in Minsk in Belarus, while in January, she claimed the top prize in a national essay competition hosted by the Faculty of Law in UCC.

Anna was also among the winners at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) in 2016, bringing home a record medal haul from the competition, which was held in Busteni in Romania.

For this year's International Mathematical Olympiad, the Irish team was led by Dr Mark Flanagan, an Associate Professor at the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at UCD and a researcher with CONNECT, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Future Networks.

Anca Mustata, a lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences in UCC, was Deputy Leader.

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different country.

The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with seven countries participating. It has gradually expanded to over 100 countries from five continents.

South Korea secured the biggest haul at this year's Olympiad, winning six gold medals. China (five golds, one silver) and Vietnam (four golds, one silver, one bronze) were second and third.

The strong Irish showing comes just weeks after the Irish left their mark on the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Ashton student Diarmuid O'Donoghue was among the medallists as Ireland secured three bronzes at the event, which was also a record haul for an Irish contingent in the competition.