[auntienomen]

We can. But doing so frames math research as the same sort of activity as math problem solving.. it's not. Many imo champions struggle to do any successful math research. And many successful math researchers (e.g., all of the most recent batch of Fields medallists) never did the Oympiad at all.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

Yet the one and only Millenial problem solver was a MO winner too, so there is some overlap.

[auntienomen]

Sample size 1.

Here's what Andrew Wiles, the only other person to have solved a Millennium-class problem has to say of math competition: "Let me stress that creating new mathematics is a quite different occupation from solving problems in a contest. Why is this? Because you don't know for sure what you are trying to prove or indeed whether it is true."

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

Sample size > 1 for sure, Terence Tao comes to mind, as well as Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani.

Nobody argues it's the same, after all MO problems are designed to be solved in ~an hour, but we are talking about mental capabilities.