Despite qualifying for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the Moroccan Olympiad team was unable to participate in the tournament hosted in Bath, England from July 11 to 22 due to delays in obtaining visas.
“MathMaroc,” a Moroccan mathematics association, publicly expressed its disappointment regarding the situation on social media, “The Moroccan Mathematics team was unable to travel to England to participate in the 2024 IMO, due to delays in granting visas,” it wrote.
“What saddens us even more is the six Moroccan participants who were deprived from participating after being selected from the best high schools,” MathMaroc added.
The International Mathematical Olympiad is a yearly international mathematics competition for high school students. It is hosted yearly by different countries with the first event hosted in 1959 in Romania, with seven participating countries.
During the 2023 IMO held in Tokyo, the Moroccan team ranked 68th out of 112 participating countries, a 2-point increase from the previous participation.