The country produced its first gold medal in eight years in the 8th China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad, the last of a series of math contests in China where the Philippines participated in.

Carmela Antoinette Lao, a third year high school student of St. Jude Catholic School, was the lone medalist among the all-female Philippine team when she bagged gold in the contest held in Xiamen, China.

The Philippine team arrived in the country Sunday night.

The other members of the Philippine team are Geraldine Baniqued of St. Paul College-Pasig who was the silver medalist in the same contest last year; Sarah Jane Cua of Pangasinan Universal Institute, who is the country’s Sudoku champ; and Bianca Lorraine Sing of Chiang Kai Shek College, also a winner in various international math contests.

The RP team was also awarded the Best Performance and second place overall in Dance Aerobics, which was a sidelight of the math contest. However, all contestants in the CGMO got a little scare when an American student was quarantined and taken to a hospital by Chinese school authorities when she developed fever during the contest proper.

The American team identified her as Elizabeth Synge, a member of the team, according to a blog set up by the members.

Synge had a slight fever but was allowed to take the test in a separate room by herself on August 13. After the exam, she still had fever so she was sent to the hospital for swine flu test. Other contestants who were with Synge in the original examination room were all quarantined in their dormitories.

Fortunately, Synge was tested negative for swine flu and she was allowed to return to the school while other contestants were also allowed to resume their normal activities.

The RP team’s coaches were Misael Jose Fisico, Josephine Lorenzo Sy-Tan, officers of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines.

Dr. Simon Chua, MTG president, said “being a participant in this competition is already a prestige and getting a medal means a very excellent performance.”