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\title{Observations on EGMO 2019}
\author{Joseph Myers}
\date{April 2019}
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\maketitle

\section*{Introduction}

The \href{https://www.egmo.org/egmos/egmo8/}{eighth} European Girls'
Mathematical Olympiad (\href{https://www.egmo.org/}{EGMO}) was held in
Kyiv, Ukraine, between 7 and 13~April 2019.

I participated in this event in my usual role of IT, travelling with
the UK team but not as part of the UK delegation.  The UK team
consisted of Naomi Bazlov, Sarah Gleghorn, Alice Luo and Yuka Machino,
with the leader being Jenny Owladi and the deputy leader being Kasia
Warburton.  More about the EGMO~2019 experience from the perspectives
of participating teams and leaders may be found in other reports, 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*{2 April}

The EGMO team gather in Cambridge at the annual UK training and IMO
selection camp.  There are six girls at this camp, a record number
(along with eighteen boys).

\paragraph*{7 April}

The timing of EGMO means the team need to leave the Cambridge camp
early, having sat the second Team Selection Test the previous day, and
the timing of available flights to Kyiv dictates a very early start
indeed.  A sleep-deprived EGMO party catches a minibus at 04:30 for
our flight from Stansted to Kyiv.  The driver decides he needs to stop
to refuel en route, then confuses us by only putting in a few litres
of fuel.  In Kyiv Naomi finds she has mislaid her phone, and there are
long queues for passport control, after which we meet the UK guide
Andrii.  He takes us to a minibus with too few seats for a journey to
another airport terminal, where photos are taken, and an attempt made
to interview the team, before a larger minibus takes both us and the
Greek team to the hotel (with a long time stuck in traffic on the way).

We have a late lunch, meet old friends from other countries, have
further attempted interviews, and some people go on to explore the
local area.  By dinner time, Naomi's phone has been found on the plane
and returned to her, but Yuka's bed turns out to be broken.  The
selections of the UK squad of ten for the IMO (to be narrowed down to
the final team of six next month in Leeds), and the UK team for the
Balkan Mathematical Olympiad in Moldova, are announced at 21:00, the
former including Sarah (Yuka will later be added to that squad as well
following her outstanding performance at EGMO).

\paragraph*{8 April}

The Jury meets to review and approve the proposed problems.  A late
change to Problem~2 by the Problem Selection Committee was incorrect
and needs to be undone, while the original version of Problem~5 has an
incorrect definition of integer part.  The Jury approves a proposal
from the EGMO AB for a sub-committee to handle unresolved disputes
between leaders and coordinators, after last year's Jury had to sit
past 02:00 to resolve disputes taken to the whole Jury.

The opening ceremony is in a mall attached to the hotel.  Rather than
teams parading across the stage, time is saved by having them stand up
in place.  This year, the order is that of the distance of each
country's capital from Kyiv, starting with Australia and ending with
the Ukrainian teams.  Lunch follows the ceremony.  The English
Language Committee then edits the wording of the problems, including
correcting the spelling of `incentre' and a substantial rephrasing of
Problem~6.  The Jury follows with further changes to the wording,
keeping in mind that the English version should be suitable not just
for native speakers but for many other contestants taking it as a
second language version.

Once the English version is done, leaders work on their translations
into $34$~other languages.  Issues encountered in the course of
translation include needing to say `all' in some languages where
English says `the $N+1$ yellow labels' (because of the lack of
articles in languages such as Russian), and increasing difficulty
devising a Spanish version suitable for all the Spanish-speaking
countries at EGMO.  Eventually all translations are done, and
$369$~pages of exams can be printed for contestants to sit tomorrow.

\paragraph*{9 April}

Despite the care taken in wording the problems, various issues still
confuse contestants and result in queries being sent to the Jury,
especially whether the condition in Problem~2 applies to covered as
well as uncovered cells.  Once all queries are resolved, the mark
schemes for the first day's problems are presented and approved with
some changes.  In the afternoon I print the papers for the second day.
The organisers' estimate of the time scripts become available for
leaders and coordinators, originally between 16:00 and 17:00, proves
overly optimistic and gets steadily pushed back until scripts
eventually become available after 19:00.  Several alternative
solutions to the problems are written up and distributed, including an
Israeli proof that the upper bound in Problem~2 is also a lower bound.

\paragraph*{10 April}

Today, `pairwise different' in Problem~5 causes much confusion among
contestants, while some questions are asked about $N$~in Problem~6 (a
variable first mentioned in a reference to `$N+1$ yellow labels').
The discussion of the mark scheme for Problem~4 lasts more than an
hour, resulting in the problem captain going away to rewrite the
scheme along the lines voted on by the Jury.  Providing time for
leaders to study mark schemes and discuss them informally with the
coordinators, before the presentations to the whole Jury, might help
make the process of approving mark schemes smoother, but it is not
clear how that could fit into the EGMO timetable.

Jenny, Kasia and I see the UK team after they finish the exam.
Contestants then head out on excursions, while leaders and deputies
continue work on their contestants' scripts and await those from
today's exam.  We all meet again at dinner, the team tired after their
excursion.

When we travelled to EGMO, we observed that we were flying out of the
EU without knowing whether our flight back on Saturday would take us
back into the EU or not.  The European Council meets this evening in
Brussels and, late at night, agrees an extension of the Brexit process
to 31~October.  So on Saturday we will fly back into the EU rather
than arriving at Stansted seventeen hours into no-deal Brexit.

\paragraph*{11 April}

Coordination takes place today, with problems~1, 4~and~6 progressing
fast (although with some delays in coordination tables submitting
their forms for data entry).  Problems 2~and~5 drag on late into the
evening and the final Jury meeting has to be postponed.  Originally
planned for 20:00, it eventually starts at 22:10.  It has clearly been
a very good year for the UK, with a safe gold for Yuka, but whether
all the other UK students will receive silver medals is unclear.

As no-one would pay attention after the approval of medal boundaries,
we start with other business.  After some reports, we have a
presentation from Georgia about their proposal to host EGMO~2021,
discussing the country, the Imereti region, the city of Kutaisi and
the Akaki Tsereteli State University, and this proposal is accepted.
Proceeding to elections to the EGMO Advisory Board, Slagjana Brsakoska
from North Macedonia is elected after some confusion occasioned by a
tie for second place in the first round of voting, then Viviane Kehl
becomes the new Chair unopposed as neither other elected member of the
AB wishes to stand.

Moving to approval of scores and medal boundaries, the Jury is feeling
generous.  Ideally there would be 71~medals given to contestants from
official European countries and the Jury votes to give~80 rather
than~69.  This naturally leads to exactly~40 receiving silver or gold
medals, of which 13~receive gold medals.  The UK team have all
received gold or silver medals, the first time they have managed this
at EGMO, despite being a young team with no previous EGMO experience
(Naomi had previously represented the UK at the Romanian Master of
Mathematics, while Yuka was the reserve for last year's EGMO).  All of
the team are available for EGMO~2020 and some for EGMO~2021.

\paragraph*{12 April}

Today has an excursion for everyone, a sightseeing cruise along the
river Dnieper.  Geoff Smith dislikes olympiad boat trips and is not at
this EGMO.

Our guide tells us to be downstairs at 09:45 for a 10:00 departure.
Few people are present by then, and the departure is somewhat
delayed.  Eventually the coaches take us to the boats.

Warnings before the EGMO trip noted Ukraine might be colder than the
UK, but sunny weather over the past few days has given us a false
sense of security.  The weather today is cold and grey.  The upper
level of the boat has better views, but is particularly cold.  There
is some tour guide commentary, but it is largely inaudible.  The lower
level (indoors) is warmer, but the promised tea does not materialise
as someone forgot to bring the teabags.  On returning to the hotel,
our guide tells us to meet at 14:40 for the 16:30 closing ceremony.
Seeing the huge crowds waiting for the lifts, the stairs seem a good
idea to many people.  They seem less of a good idea after reaching the
10\textsuperscript{th} floor with tired legs and realising one is only
half way up to one's room on the 19\textsuperscript{th} floor.

The coach to the closing ceremony spends a long time stuck in traffic,
so the 14:40 meeting time (or at least the 15:15 time the coach
actually leaves) turns out to be reasonable after all.  The Minister
of Education and Science gives a good speech.  Medals are awarded,
followed by prizes for the team competition.  The EGMO flag is handled
over to the Netherlands, and many photos taken, before we return to
the hotel for the closing dinner and party at the nearby mall.  Tables
are shared by two teams, with eleven seats, allowing both guides and a
single deputy to be at the table; other adults are at separate tables
where wine is eventually served.  Contestants receive mugs with team
photos on them.

At EGMO 2014 in Antalya, many excellent desserts were available,
resulting in UK deputy Jo Harbour instituting a rule of no more than
three desserts per meal.  Jo has now retired as UK leader, and, having
generally had no more than two desserts per meal earlier in this EGMO,
I go for a second helping of desserts at this dinner.

Geoff Smith's
\href{https://www.imo-register.org.uk/2015-report.pdf}{IMO 2015
  report} notes the problems posed by large and heavy gifts given at
olympiads.  A mysterious entity, apparently not considering this
issue, is attempting to recruit EGMO medallists to its cause by making
a gift to every medallist of a four-volume hardback set of its
movement's foundational text, \textit{Harry Potter and the Methods of
  Rationality}.  The EGMO organisers have many boxes of books provided
by this entity, and are going round the closing party, checking
countries off on a list and giving $4n$~volumes to leaders with
$n$~medallists on their teams.  This is less than entirely helpful to
the leaders who then have large piles of books to pass on to their
teams, and to those medallists who arrived at EGMO with their
suitcases already using 19.9kg of a 20kg baggage allowance.

\paragraph*{13 April}

The UK group slowly gathers at breakfast, and Jenny distributes the
certificates.  Books are passed on to students who had left the party
before Kasia received the sixteen volumes from the organisers, and
Naomi's mug, which she had left at the party, is successfully
retrieved.

We are taken to the airport with the Latvian team, where it transpires
we are at the wrong terminal and need to get a shuttle bus to the
right one.  There, everyone's luggage is within the weight limits,
despite the books being carried by the team, but Naomi finds at
security that she is carrying scissors.  People get some food, and we
fly back to Stansted, still located in the EU for now.  Immigration
for non-EU citizens is slow again, so people start to depart.  I
return to Cambridge with Kasia, while other destinations range as far
as Macau.

\section*{Thanks}

The Ukrainian organisers put on a magnificent event.  Thanks to them
and the EGMO AB for all their work in hosting EGMO in Kyiv.  Thanks to
Jenny, Kasia, Naomi, Sarah, Alice and Yuka for being an outstanding UK
delegation and friendly travel companions.  Thanks to the EGMO~2019
organisers and the UK Mathematics Trust for supporting my involvement
in EGMO and arranging travel and Man Group for sponsoring the UK EGMO
team.  Thanks to Birgit and the rest of the Dutch olympiad people for
taking on the task of hosting next year's EGMO in Egmond aan Zee and
to Georgia for hosting EGMO~2021 so that EGMO can continue to go from
strength to strength into the next decade.

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