The International Mathematical Olympiad is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in various countries. The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with 7 countries participating. It has gradually expanded to over 100 countries from 5 continents (IMO, 2020). It is worth noting that the International Mathematical Olympiad was established thanks to the initiative of Central and Eastern European countries, namely Poland, Romania, Hungary, and then Czechoslovakia, in which the national mathematics Olympiads were organized earlier (the Polish Mathematical Olympiad has existed since 1949). In turn, the International Mathematics Olympiad has been held three times in Poland so far: in 1963 in Warsaw and Wroclaw, in 1972 in Torun, and in 1986 in Warsaw. Currently, students from over 100 countries around the world take part in the competition (IMO 2020). The participation of so many countries from different continents proves that mathematics is a universal language, understood by the whole world. Math symbols, letters, and other characters make up the written language of math. Galileo himself claimed that "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe" (Federer, 2018). It is hard to argue with that.

                During the International Mathematics Olympiad, Poles also managed to win gold and obtained the maximum number of points (the so-called perfect score), which is a rare and particularly appreciated achievement. During the 60-year history of IMO, 7 Poles managed such a feat. When I was conducting research on my doctoral dissertation entitled "Milestones in the life of outstanding mathematicians and mathematically gifted youth" (Wenderlich-Pintal, 2019), I realized that the group of Polish mathematical Olympians are diverse, fascinating, and require further research. The fact of particular importance was that in this age group it is possible to ensure better organization of education or to direct the destiny of these people in such a way that they have a greater chance of achieving success (Bühler, 1999, Spitzer, 2012).

      According to Gardner and Walters (1984), a crystallizing experience is an extraordinary encounter - usually in adolescence - with an authority in a given field of creativity or with its characteristic material, or even equipment and instruments, which becomes a breakthrough in the later life. The course\fact of this meeting results in the fact that a creative person begins to focus their life on a selected problem, material, or experiences and experiences. The authors suggest (Walters, Gardner, 1984) that in the case of the greatest talents, crystallizing experiences are inevitable, and most importantly, they occur more often among musicians and mathematicians. These views served as an inspiration for the purpose of my research. However,I decided that it is worth considering other factors that could have influenced the development of mathematical skills, whether it was just a stroke of luck (Shermer, 2017), or other aspects. The publication of Charlotte Bühler (1999) and the methodological concept of conducting research on the course of human life helped me to plan the research program. Therefore, in this convention, I decided to consider the course of life of mathematically gifted youth.

In the study, I have used the biographical method following the example of Charlotte Bühler’s The course of Human Life. The main purpose of this research was to establish the events that were engraved in the minds of outstanding mathematicians and significantly influenced their scientific achievements. The technique chosen was a partially structured interview. It began with the question: Are there any people, things, events, situations, and all the contexts in your consciousness that influences the orientation of your mind towards mathematics? Then, if there was such a need, the researcher asked about specific periods of life: childhood, school period, or people, e.g. parents, teachers, etc.

As I mentioned before, each of the examined Olympians mentioned crystallizing experiences in their life. Based on their stories, I was able to distinguish such categories: 1. People supporting the development of mathematical talents 2. Success in school and extracurricular mathematical activity 3. Books, textbooks 4. School and academic conditions for developing mathematical abilities 5. Random events, cases 6. Foreign trips and scholarships 7. The beauty of math 8. Others

Bühler, Ch. (1999). The course of human life, Warsaw, PWN. Federer, B. (2018, September 15). Early astronomers: Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe World Tribune Life on August 26. https://worldtribune.com/life/early-astronomers-mathematics-is-the-language-in-which-god-has-written-the-universe/ Johnson, S., Steinerberger, S. (2019). Intuitions about Mathematical Beauty: A Case Study in the Aesthetic Experience of Ideas, Cognition Volume 189, 242-259. Shermer, M. (2017, July 25). What is the Secret of Success? Scientific American, 12 (316), p. 2. Spitzer, M. (2012). Jak uczy się mózg? Warsaw, PWN. Walters, J., Gardner, H. (1984). The Crystallizing Experience: Discovering an Intellectual Gift, Sternberg R. J., Davidson J. (eds.), Conceptions of Giftedness, Cambridge University Press, New York. Wenderlich-Pintal, M. (2019). The Milestones in the Life Course of Distinguished Mathematicians and Mathematically Gifted Adolescents, Didactica Mathematicae, 41, 91-120. DOI: 10.14708/dm.v41i0.7027