From child prodigy to chief scientist

Chapter 123 I am no longer an eleven-year-old child

At the awards ceremony, Xu Xiao, Pan Hong, Ge Xijie, and others stood together on the highest podium, enjoying their moment of glory.

Watching the red flag rise slowly in the stadium, the team members felt incredibly proud, their hearts filled with the glory of winning honor for their country.

Meanwhile, the American team members could only watch helplessly from the sidelines, their eyes filled with envy and regret.

Back then, they would laugh at Xu Xiao because of his height, but now they can only look up at him from below.

If they had the chance to do it all over again, they would never say those things to Xu Xiao again.

After awarding the gold and silver medals for the individual competitions and the team prizes, the organizers presented the special prizes for this year's IM0.

This award is separate from individual and team awards. It is not based solely on the team members' scores, but rather decided upon by the competition's judging panel after deliberation.

After all, there are usually more than one person who can get a perfect score in each IM0 competition. Only those team members who perform exceptionally well in a certain aspect and leave a particularly deep impression on the judging panel will have the opportunity to receive a special award.

In previous years, this award was often given to contestants who provided a particularly concise, ingenious, or highly original solution to a particular problem.

Xu Xiao was somewhat familiar with the judging criteria for this award and felt that he was unlikely to win it.

Although Xu Xiao could come up with several different methods for each problem, he chose the most conventional solution method in order to play it safe in the team competition.

Anyway, he has already helped the team win the most important team competition, so other awards are not so important.

Amidst everyone's watchful eyes, the president of the IMO jury stepped onto the stage to announce the winner of this year's IMO Special Award.

"Distinguished guests, dear athletes from all countries."

"I am delighted to see so many mathematically gifted contestants at this year's IMO."

"Many players impressed me this year, including Schulz from the German team, Antoine from the French team, and Pan Hong from the Chinese team, among others."

"They all provided very brilliant solutions to certain problems, which impressed us judges."

"But what impressed us the most was Xu Xiao from the Chinese team."

"Xu Xiao won the gold medal at this year's IMO at the age of only eleven, and it was a perfect score gold medal."

"Although his problem-solving approach wasn't particularly outstanding, it demonstrated an extremely solid mathematical foundation and strong logical thinking."

"This is the youngest gold medalist and perfect scorer in IMO history, setting a new record."

"Therefore, we have ultimately decided to award this year's IMO Special Prize to Xu Xiao of the Chinese team!"

As soon as the chairman of the judging panel finished speaking, the audience immediately gave Xu Xiao a warm round of applause.

The Chinese team's coaching staff and players naturally applauded the most enthusiastically. They knew that Xu Xiao fully deserved the award, and his contributions to the team were self-evident.

Those contestants who had witnessed Xu Xiao's mathematical abilities at the coffee corner were now applauding him enthusiastically.

Xu Xiao herself was a little unprepared to receive the award, and stood up and walked onto the stage in surprise.

As Xu Xiao held up the award certificate with both hands, Fei Ran, sitting in the audience, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Even he was somewhat surprised that Xu Xiao would choose to use the most conventional methods when answering the questions.

It's worth noting that when Xu Xiao is training, he often uses several different methods to solve each problem, and each method is more unusual than the last.

I wonder how the judges would react if they found out about this.

As for Xu Xiao's reasons for doing this, Fei Ran could guess that it was mostly for the sake of the team.

"This kid usually seems independent and does his own thing, but he really shows a lot of teamwork when it matters!"

Fei Ran really couldn't find anything wrong with Xu Xiao. It was a great honor for Fei Ran to be able to teach such an outstanding student.

After the awards ceremony, everyone returned to the hotel together.

At this IMO, Xu Xiao won three major awards: an individual gold medal, first place in the team competition, and an IMO special prize, achieving a grand slam of IMO awards.

Xu Xiao must be happy to have achieved such results, but now that the IMO is over, he should get back to work and prepare for his university life.

Just then, Xu Xiao saw Fei Ran walk in with a cake.

Happy 12th birthday, Xu Xiao!

Hearing Fei Ran say this, Xu Xiao realized that she was indeed twelve years old now.

Although he will officially turn twelve tomorrow according to local time, he is already a year older according to Beijing time because of the fourteen-hour time difference between Mexico and China.

The other team members had obviously known in advance that it was Xu Xiao's birthday, and they sang a birthday song for him together.

"From now on, I am no longer an eleven-year-old child."

In the new year, Xu Xiao hopes to grow up quickly, make further progress in her studies, and strive to make more outstanding scientific achievements.

Research findings.

Accompanied by her coach and teammates, Xu Xiao spent a very special twelfth birthday.

The day after IM0 ended, the team flew out of Mexico together.

Although the journey back was very long, they were all in a great mood because they had achieved outstanding results in the IMO and no longer needed to face the pressure of exams.

After returning to Yanjing, the national math competition team officially disbanded, and the team members could finally go back and rest for a while.

Upon learning of Xu Xiao's return, Xu Lang and Yu Guilan went to the airport to welcome him back.

Upon meeting Xu Xiao, both of them eagerly inquired about the IMO.

"Xiaoxiao, I heard that our country won first place in the team competition, and every member of our team won a gold medal with a perfect score?"

"Also, did you receive that IMO Special Award?"

Seeing how concerned her parents were about this matter, Xu Xiao took out the medals and certificates she had won and showed them to them.

"Yes, our results this time were indeed quite good, and most importantly, we defended our honor as the team champion."

Seeing the medals and certificates Xu Xiao received, Xu Lang and Yu Guilan were extremely proud of their son.

"Alright, Xiaoxiao, hurry up and put these things away, don't lose them."

"Yes, we can watch it slowly when we get home."

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