Cape maths pupils dominate Olympiad
WINNERS: The SA Mathematics Foundation awards took place on Saturday at the Krystal Beach Hotel, Gordon’s Bay. Nomaxabiso Matjila, Liberty: head of corporate affairs and sustainability, with Timothy Schlesinger and Andi Qu. WINNERS: The SA Mathematics Foundation awards took place on Saturday at the Krystal Beach Hotel, Gordon’s Bay. Nomaxabiso Matjila, Liberty: head of corporate affairs and sustainability, with Timothy Schlesinger and Andi Qu.
The SA Mathematics Foundation's (SAMF) annual awards took place on Saturday at the Krystal Beach Hotel, Gordon's Bay.
Timothy Schlesinger from Rondebosch Boys’ High School won top senior (grades 10 to 12) pupil and Andi Qu from St John’s College in Johannesburg won top junior (grades 8-9) pupil.
Almost 100 000 pupils participated in the 2017 Olympiad. Qu, who won a gold medal, said: “Winning feels amazing because now I know the hard work I put in paid off.”
He said that he spent the whole year preparing for this competition and he spent about an hour daily practising.
“The competition was fairly tough, quite challenging, but I managed to win (a) gold medal, R7 500 and an iPad and this made me really happy because it was higher by 50% from last year's amount.”
Schlesinger said: “Winning came from a combination of a lot of work, it (was) satisfying to reap the rewards, always nice to do well.”
Schlesinger said that doing more Olympiads was advantageous and contributed to him winning, as he was able to prepare more.
"Other than putting in a lot of work, God helped me win this competition.
"Last year, I came second and won R3 000, this year I won R10 000 and an iPad, which was a big step from last year.”