Six Chinese high school students left Washington for home Saturday, after each winning a gold medal in the 2001 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

The six Chinese students were awarded gold medals Friday for their remarkable performance at the math Olympiad, the world's preeminent mathematical competition for high school-age students.

The Chinese team comprising the six also ranked first overall, and is the only all-gold-medallist team during the event.

The Russian team and the United States team tied for the second place. Overall, the six-member Russian team won five gold medals and one silver medal, and the US team had four gold medallists and two silver medallists.

Chinese students Xiao Liang and Zhang Zhiqiang, along with Reid Barton and Gabriel Carroll of the United States, earned perfect scores in the math competition. The four students were each awarded a special prize, a high-end laptop.

A total of 473 students from 83 countries and regions took part in the competition for solving, in a nine-hour grueling test administered over two days, six math questions that would daunt even some professional mathematicians. The 2002 IMO will be held in Britain.

(Xinhua News Agency 07/15/2001)