A growth dichotomy for o-minimal expansions of ordered groups

Let be an o-minimal expansion of a divisible ordered abelian group with a distinguished positive element . Then the following dichotomy holds: Either there is a -definable binary operation such that is an ordered real closed field; or, for every definable function there exists a -definable with . This has some interesting consequences regarding groups definable in o-minimal structures. In particular, for an o-minimal structure there are, up to definable isomorphism, at most two continuous (with respect to the product topology induced by the order) -definable groups with underlying set .