Boy with Cerebral Palsy is Math Prodigy, Wins International Math Olympiad Gold Medal

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"CHINA - Despite suffering from cerebral palsy, male student Xu Qiming led the national team to victory at the International Mathematical Olympiad in 2025.

As the world's brightest young mathematical minds converged on Sunshine Coast (Australia) last week for the year's largest global math competition, one moment made a strong impression before the competition even began.

During the opening ceremony of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), when China's six-member team was introduced, many noticed a male student walking unsteadily alongside his teammates. He was Xu Qiming, a second-year student at a high school in Wuhan.

Xu Qiming suffers from cerebral palsy – a permanent brain disorder caused by a lack of oxygen at birth. This condition affects his ability to control movement, such as body movements, coordination, and balance.

Despite facing lifelong physical challenges, Xu Qiming showed an early talent for mathematics and has since proven himself in China's notoriously competitive national team.

High school student Xu Qiming (right) overcame limitations due to cerebral palsy, helping the Chinese team win the International Mathematical Olympiad held in Australia this year.

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"Last year, Qiming ranked 5th with 35 points among 609 contestants. This achievement earned him his first gold medal, but the Chinese team lost the championship to the US due to a lower total score, ending their five-year winning streak.

This year, Qiming and his five teammates aimed to reclaim glory for the Chinese national team.

In the first five problems, all six Chinese contestants achieved perfect scores – 35 points each. Meanwhile, two members of the US team had 3 points deducted, reducing their overall team score. By problem number 6 – the toughest challenge – China scored 21 points, including two perfectly solved problems. The US team only managed 9 points for this problem.

On Friday, Qiming won his second consecutive IMO gold medal, while leading China to defeat their arch-rival, the US team. He achieved a total of 36 points, ranking 12th among 630 participating contestants. China reclaimed the championship with 6 gold medals and a total score of 231, while the US team scored 216 points, with 5 gold medals and 1 silver.

The IMO is not merely a competition of IQ. Since 2000, eight former IMO medalists have gone on to win the Fields Medal – the most prestigious award in Mathematics.

One of the most famous winners is Terence Tao, who won an IMO gold medal in 1988 at just 13 years old, becoming the youngest person to achieve this feat.

37 years later, Tao, now a professor at UCLA (USA), returned to Australia to present medals to this year's outstanding contestants at the closing ceremony.

'The IMO is always like this. Problem number 6 is indeed very difficult, and almost no one can solve it. I couldn't solve that problem either,' he told the audience.

'The world is very unpredictable now. I also cannot say what will happen in the future. But this is the pinnacle of mathematics competitions, and you have truly risen to the challenge.'

After the closing ceremony, the host team Australia handed over the IMO flag to the Chinese team. The IMO 2026 competition will be held in Shanghai.

The IMO was first held in 1959, but China only participated in 1985, and initially only won a bronze medal. Four years later, China won its first championship.

Throughout the 36 years since then, China has dominated this competition with 25 championships and a total of 191 gold medals."

Original by Vietnamnet