Tyson Mao
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Tyson Mao is a Taiwanese-American speedcuber from Hillsborough, California. He is a co-founder and board member of the WCA. He is best known today as the organizer of major US competitions, including all US Nationals. Although no longer competitive, Tyson set the 3x3 blindfolded world record of 1:58.32 in 2005, the first official time under 2 minutes.
He is the brother of Toby Mao, also a well-known speedcuber.
Organizer and Competitor
Tyson began organizing competitions at the California Institute of Technology in early 2004, the were the first official competition in the world after the World Championships 2003. Together with the founding of the WCA, he is thus responsible in large part for the abundance of local competitions since 2004. As a competitor as well, he was a key member of the hayday of the Caltech Cube Club, especially its dominance in blindfold cubing through 2005.
In addition to the Caltech competitions, Tyson has been the main organizer for all US Nationals (2004, 2006-2010).
Perception within the Community
Tyson has gained the nickname of "Uncle Tyson" among the cubing community for his founding works on U.S. cubing competitions. The cubing story blog Story Time with Uncle Tyson, featuring an inaugural story by Tyson, was named after him.
Trivia
WCA's official scrambling orientation (white on top, green in front) was decided by Tyson.
