Finance Ministry denies Romania's Math Olympians small prizes before paying millions to winning athletes

The Romanian Government, which recently awarded the country's athletes who won medals at the London Olympics with a total budget of EUR 5 million, is yet to reward the team of high school students who won medals in the most recent Math Olympiad. Radu Gologan, who coordinates the country's Math Olympiad team, recently sent an open letter to Prime Minister Victor Ponta and to interim president Crin Antonescu, asking for the funds to reward the math Olympians, after the Finance Ministry did not approve the payments. The highest award, for the gold medal, is of EUR 2,000, while the award for a gold medal for an athlete at the London Olympics was of EUR 70,000, double the official amount stated by law. Prime Minister Victor Ponta recently said he asked the Finance Ministry to make available EUR 5 million for the winners in the London Olympics, who brought home nine medals. Gologan says he was outraged by the decision, which denied the math Olympians a prize 20 times lower in value. “We should prize the future of intelligence similarly to the future of sports,” he said. Romania ranked first in the European Union after the International Math Olympiad this year and ranked 10th among 100 countries. Some of the winners were counting on the prizes the Government to pay for plane tickets, as they head abroad to continue their studies, according to Gologan, quoted by Adevarul newspaper. Two Romanians, Radu Bumbacea and Omer Cerrahoglu won gold medals at the 2012 Math Olympiad in Mar del Plata, Argentina, which took place between July 4 and 16. The unofficial ranking after the competition placed Romania first in Europe, based on the number of points received by participants from each country. The Koreans, Chinese and Americans took up the first places in the world, out of 584 contestants. Romania had a team of six at the Olympiad. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Romtelecom)