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\title{Observations on EGMO 2017}
\author{Joseph Myers}
\date{April 2017}
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\section*{Introduction}

The \href{https://www.egmo.org/egmos/egmo6/}{sixth} European Girls'
Mathematical Olympiad (\href{https://www.egmo.org/}{EGMO}) was held in
Z\"urich, Switzerland, between 6 and 12~April 2017.

I participated in this event in my usual roles of IT and Coordinator,
travelling with the UK team but not as part of the UK delegation.  The
UK team consisted of Rosie Cates, Melissa Quail, Alevtina Studenikina
and Naomi Wei, with the leader being Jo Harbour and the deputy leader
being Jenny Owladi; Kasia Warburton accompanied the team as an
observer to provide pastoral support.  More about the EGMO~2017
experience from a UK perspective may be found in Jo's report as leader
and in the team's student report, when available.  These observations
should be read as a supplement to those reports, in the spirit of
Geoff Smith's Observations on
\href{https://www.imo-register.org.uk/2011-report-geoff.pdf}{IMO~2011}
and
\href{https://www.imo-register.org.uk/2012-report-geoff.pdf}{IMO~2012}.

\section*{Diary}

\paragraph*{30 March}

The EGMO team and reserve, plus a few boys, gather in Cambridge for
training and IMO selection.

The team hoodies have arrived and Kasia distributes them.  Some years
ago we had a supplier of team clothing lose the provided logo and
replace it with one they invented themselves.  This time, it seems
there has been a misunderstanding of how old the ``girls'' competing
at EGMO are: the hoodies are in child sizes, and few of them fit any
team members.

\paragraph*{6 April}

We gather at Heathrow Airport to fly to Z\"urich.  Naomi is very
prompt, arriving within a few seconds before the appointed meeting
time.  Geoff Smith will be coming directly from the Gulf Mathematical
Olympiad in Riyadh, while Jenny will arrive in Z\"urich the next
morning.

This is the first time in Switzerland for all of us except Kasia.
Alevtina has some trouble at immigration as she is using an Italian
Schengen visa instead of a Swiss one.  We are met by EGMO staff, and
our group divides according to where we will be staying in Z\"urich;
contestants, deputies and accompanying observers are at a youth
hostel, leaders and coordinators at Swiss\^otel Z\"urich.  We meet
coordinator Michelle Sweering (a past EGMO and IMO gold medallist),
and are taken to our hotel by train.

\paragraph*{7 April}

The Jury gathers at the University of Z\"urich, Irchel campus to
review and approve the proposed papers.  After approval, the Hungarian
leader finds the result of problem~4 published in a journal in 2007
(with a reference to a previous paper from 1977), but no-one wishes to
exclude the problem on that basis.

34~language versions of the papers are required this year.  When we
leave for the opening ceremony at ETH Z\"urich, only English and
Bulgarian are ready.  The opening ceremony is followed by food for all
EGMO participants, and eventually Leaders and Coordinators return to
the Jury room to continue work on translations.

Sherry Gong decides that a special English (US) version is needed this
year.  Her team had voted for British spellings, but they reflect
``across'' rather than ``in'' lines.  However, the Swiss do not
require a separate French version.  Eventually all translations are
ready and approved, and the papers are printed for tomorrow's exam.

\paragraph*{8 April}

We have an opportunity to meet students before the first exam, and see
the EGMO signs pointing to the ``wardrobe'', presumably actually a
cloakroom for student use.  The Jury deals with queries on the first
day's exam; several students ask about the definition of a convex
quadrilateral, while the left/right alternation in problem~3 also
results in many questions from students seeking to confirm they have
understood it correctly.  Coordinators review the proposed mark
schemes for the first day's problems, then they are presented to and
approved by the Jury.  Problem~6 coordinators report having found the
result of that problem in a paper of Darij Grinberg, but neither the
coordinators nor the Jury consider this to make the problem
unsuitable.

The first day's scripts are distributed to leaders, and copies to
coordinators, and everyone gets to work on understanding them.

The organisers have recruited many international coordinators this
year, which helps with understanding scripts in various languages.
Many of those coordinators are also past EGMO or IMO contestants, and
the coordination team is much more gender-balanced (15~male,
13~female) than at any previous EGMO.  There are many past IMO
contestants who routinely come to the IMO as coordinators, and we
could be seeing the beginnings of that for EGMO, replacing previous
nearly-all-male coordination teams.

\paragraph*{9 April}

The Luxembourg Leader and Coordinator / EGMO AB member, on finding
there would be a ten-minute wait for a tram to Irchel campus, decide
it is quicker to lead a group walking there.  We meet students before
the second exam.

A cat pays a visit to the Jury room.  Various queries are sent
regarding the meaning of ``$n$-tuple''.  There are also many queries
on problem~4 about whether the result has to be proved for all
sequences of~$t_i$ satisfying the given condition, or just for one
such sequence, and about whether multiple people can play the same
number of games.  The ``reflection in'' issue causes some queries.
Mark schemes for today's paper are discussed and approved.

Weather in Z\"urich is warm and sunny, and UK people gather outside
for lunch.  We then meet the team after the exam.  By the afternoon,
my coordination partner is back from the marathon he was running this
morning, and we look further at some scripts.  Tonight, contestants
will have the choice of dance classes or watching the film $X+Y$.

\paragraph*{10 April}

Coordination on problem~3 goes smoothly and finishes early.  Problems
4 and~5, however, drag on and the final Jury meeting has to be put
back.  There is a suggestion of postponing dinner until after the
meeting to encourage efficiency.  Eventually we have dinner before the
meeting, but the meeting starts with one coordination still ongoing.

We start with EGMO AB business.  Future hosts of Italy (Florence) for
2018, Ukraine (Kiev) for 2019 and the Netherlands for 2020 are
approved by acclamation, and there are already countries interested in
hosting EGMO in 2021 and 2022; expressions of interest are sought for
2023 and later.  EGMO continues to grow, and Italy expects to be able
to host around 50 participating countries.  With the increasing size
of EGMO it can be difficult to accommodate all participants in the
same place, but Italy and Ukraine expect to do so.  EGMO will also
follow IMO changes to the rules on eligibility of participants.

The Chief Coordinator's report notes that it was correct not to
consider Darij Grinberg's work an issue for problem~6; no scripts
mentioned anti-Steiner or Euler reflection points.  While we await the
final scores from the last coordination, the Jury approves the bronze
and gold boundaries, as the affected students cannot have scores in
that range, then goes on to approve the silver boundary while still
waiting for those scores.

The results of that coordination come in, and, for the first time at
EGMO, a dispute is taken to the Jury, about whether something is
sufficiently clearly explained in a script taking an unusual approach
to problem~5.  The Jury upholds the coordinators' recommendation of a
score of~6 for that script, and then all the scores are approved.  The
UK results are spectacularly good, with all team members getting
medals and Rosie getting her second gold with a score of~41.

\paragraph*{11 April}

The day starts with an excursion to the mountain Rigi.  So far at EGMO
we have used the trams, but this excursion will be by coach.  Jo
attempts to board an unrelated coach, but still gets on the correct
one in time.  The journey starts with a video safety briefing,
discussing how you must stay in your seat with your seatbelt fastened
for the whole journey, but also you should sit when using the toilet.
Emergency exits, the fire extinguisher and hammers for breaking
windows are also covered.

We reach Vitznau, join up with the UK team and take a rack railway up
Rigi, followed by a short walk to the top.  The mountain is shrouded
in mist and no views can be seen; this is the bad-weather programme,
while good weather would have seen more hiking on the mountain.  We
return further down on foot, to Rigi Staffel where we sample fondue
and other traditional Swiss food for lunch.  Whether Alevtina's
combination of apple sauce with onions is traditional is not entirely
clear.  We then take the rack railway to Arth Goldau and a coach back
to the hotel.

The closing ceremony follows, with the EGMO flag handed over to Italy.
At the following dinner, the UK team are presented with a prize
for their entry in the EGMO water bottle photo competition, a photo
showing a cloud being poured out of a water bottle.  Some contestants
relight a candle more spectacularly than intended, but the only
casualty is the glass containing the candle.  There is then the
traditional dancing.

\paragraph*{12 April}

We return to the airport by train from the hotel, meet the team, check
in and meet the US leader whose team has wandered off after arriving
at the airport.  Geoff has already left earlier in the morning to go
to the UKMT AGM.  Waiting for our flight, there is a call for
volunteers to be paid to be bumped from it, and from another Swiss
flight, but none of us volunteer or are otherwise affected.

Alevtina is flying from Z\"urich to Moscow.  The rest of us have an
uneventful flight to Heathrow.  Some people are met by families, and
we go our separate ways.

\section*{Thanks}

This was an extremely well-organised EGMO, into which the Swiss
organisers had put an enormous amount of work since their bid was
approved at EGMO~2014 in Turkey.  Thanks to them and the EGMO AB for
putting on such a great event, so much bigger than EGMO was back when
they first bid for EGMO~2017.  Thanks to Jo, Jenny, Kasia, Rosie,
Melissa, Alevtina and Naomi for being great travel companions and
representatives of the UK in another outstanding year.  Thanks to the
EGMO~2017 organisers and the UK Mathematics Trust for sponsoring my
involvement in EGMO, Bev for arranging travel and Man Group for
sponsoring the UK EGMO team.

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