The Iberoamerican Mathematics Olympiad (IbMO) is one of the most successful and established regional Olympiads in the world with the participation of all Iberoamerican countries. Its origins are a confluence of two mayor events: on the one hand the organization of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in the Americas for the very first time in 1981 and on the other hand a Latin American effort for the modernization and improvement of mathematics education embodied by the CIAEM--Comité Interamericano de Educación Matemática (or, alternately, the Congreso Interamericano de Educación Matemática). This localized Olympiad with a more homogeneous population proved very quickly to be an important steppingstone for Iberoamerican countries to prepare their participation in the IMO resulting in a collaborative effort to improve mathematics education in the region. Other very successful smaller regional mathematics Olympiads in Iberoamerica sprouted from this effort as well as from Iberoamerican efforts to establish similar experiences for other cohorts of students, such as younger students, university students and students of other sciences. In that same decade, other regional olympiads were born around the world, such as the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (1987), the Asian Pacific (1989) or the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad (1985). Their impact in the regions was appreciated, recognized and adapted to other regional Olympiads worldwide.