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Maxim Dudik with his gold medal outside his school in Marbella. Josele
Maxim, the young Russian maths genius on the Costa who will compete for Spain
Education

Maxim, the young Russian maths genius on the Costa who will compete for Spain

The 16-year-old Marbella resident won gold medal in the recent LX Mathematical Olympiad and will now be part of the team of six taking part in the international competition in Bath in the UK

Francisco Gutiérrez

Marbella

Tuesday, 19 March 2024

The team of young people who represented the Andalucía region in the 60th Spanish Mathematical Olympiad which took place on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 March, won a total of eight medals. Maxim Dudik, a young Russian who lives in Marbella, won the gold medal, meaning he has won a place at the international competition, which will take place in July in Bath in the UK.

Maxim was congratulated by his classmates and teachers back at the German School in Marbella on Monday 18 March, where he showed them his medal. Maxim says that he did not expect to win gold and that winning was “a great surprise" and "an immense joy".

He explains that he has liked Maths since he was very young and in Moscow, where he lived before coming to Spain, he played mathematical games. But it was in Marbella, where he has been living permanently with his family for almost four years, that his love for the subject has really grown.

University of Malaga

In addition to his school lessons, Maxim participates in the Mathematical Ingenuity Workshop, held at the University of Malaga (UMA) by Professor Cristina Draper from the faculty of Applied Mathematics and Malaga representative of the Spanish Mathematical Olympiad. Maxim spends two or three hours a week at the UMA workshop and he also has a private tutor.

Of the tests held in Calatayud, Aragón, this past weekend, Maxim says that the problems he was given to solve on the first day were “easily solved”. Saturday's test also consisted of three problems of which one he says he solved "in 15 minutes", although he admits that the others were much more complicated. In the end, he was able to solve three of the six problems successfully.

Maxim will be one of the six young people (all boys) who will represent Spain at the 65th International Mathematics Olympiad, to be held in Bath between 11 and 22 July 2024 (it was planned to be held in Ukraine, but due to the war the venue has been changed). Maxim says that it "is a great honour” to represent Spain and adds, “I am very happy to be able to represent a country that I like very much and in which we feel very much at home".

Degree

Maxim has been living in Marbella for almost four years, although the family came to the Costa del Sol on holiday before moving here permanently. His father, Mikhail Dudik, is a lawyer and his mother, Yulia Frenkel, a programmer. He would like to dedicate this medal to his family, to Malaga, "which I like very much" and to the UMA workshop.

Maxim is already thinking about his future at university but he says he’s not thinking about a degree in Maths. Instead he says he is thinking of studying computer science and doesn't know whether he will go to UMA or to a university in another country. One option is Germany.

He has also recently taken part in the Spanish Computer Olympiad which was held in Seville. The young man is grateful to the organisers for allowing him to take the exams online. Here he had a "more modest result, 17th out of 40".

Eight medals for Andalucía

Malaga contributed two students to the Andalusian team, which is made up of 12 young people. Maxim Dudik and Bruno Castro Conde, in the second year of Bachillerato (baccalaureate) Salvador Rueda secondary school in Malaga city.

In total, Andalucía has won eight medals in this national competition. Gold for Maxim, three silver (Sergio García, Pablo Troyano and Daniel Sánchez) and four bronze (David González, Jesús González, Miguel Ángel Donaire and Kaikhao Luis Wu).

The 60th Spanish Mathematical Olympiad is a competition for Baccalaureate students who are enrolled in Spanish schools or in approved foreign schools established in Spain in the current academic year 2023/24. It consists of a local and regional phase, in which the students who reach the national competition are selected.

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