Today started with the IOI Opening Ceremony. The event was kicked off by an introduction from the IOI 2018 animated hosts – IA and Onee. These two sisters have been very busy promoting all things IOI for the past several months. You can see their blog here. You’ll see they appear in several photographs and the team got into the spirit making room for IA in their pre-opening ceremony photo.
The ceremony was attended by Her Imperial Highness Princess Kako of Akishino who warmly welcomed all of the contestants and wished them well for the compeittion. During the country introductions, the other contestants were serenaded by the first of several ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’ chants.
After the ceremony, the team got an induction on earthquake emergency protocol and then had lunch with Ben Burton, IOI Regulation Keeper and former IOI Team Leader.
After lunch, the team was treated to a rather delayed practice session in the competition hall. It commenced with some waiting that was broken up only by several short, sharp bursts of more waiting and punctuated with a small nap by one team member.
Once the practice session commenced though, it was all hands on deck as the team familiarised themselves with their computers and the competition set-up. This involved, primarily, trying to break the system. This was a task that Jerry seemed to be particularly proficient at. Here’s a couple of pictures of the team plotting its next act of sabotage carefully monitored by Robert and Ishraq.
After dinner, the team met up with Robert for some last minute advice, updates and the obligatory final “Aussie Aussie Aussie.”
Tomorrow’s day 1 and you will be able to keep tabs on the team’s progress on the live scoreboard available here (under the Competitions tab). Good luck Australia!!!!
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