>> I would say this probably does build creativity. All the worlds creative geniuses in Maths and Physics started at a very early age and just kept on >> doing problem after problem to answer their curiosity. Isn't that in essence what they do in Asian countries?
Unless you have a real passion for math (i.e you want to solve problems for the rest of your life), math olympiad is a waste of time. Most Asian students do it because of its prestige and rewards that come with it: the biggest one is a scholarship from an Ivy League school. Chinese IMO team has been producing so many gold medalists but none of them cannot translate it to a greater success while Australia has done pretty well. You can check out the Noble Participants table from the link below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Mathematical_Olympiad_participants
Unless you have a real passion for math (i.e you want to solve problems for the rest of your life), math olympiad is a waste of time. Most Asian students do it because of its prestige and rewards that come with it: the biggest one is a scholarship from an Ivy League school. Chinese IMO team has been producing so many gold medalists but none of them cannot translate it to a greater success while Australia has done pretty well. You can check out the Noble Participants table from the link below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Mathematical_Olympiad_participants