Drama to a Close

While the IOI team is busy during the week of the IOI, this series of blogs is being written by team leader, Joshua Lau.

We woke up to some drama and another nervous wait this morning, as it was confirmed that some countries’ appeals for Day 1 had finally been accepted by the International Scientific Committee. This was due to the contest system going down in the final 30 seconds of the first day of competition, meaning students could not submit the latest version of their solutions. During the analysis session following that day’s competition, it was confirmed that these solutions would have scored more points, and that the medal cutoffs may have changed, which concerned us particularly as Timmy stood precariously close to the cutoff.

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Much to our relief, several hours later, though more points were awarded, the medal cutoffs, and medal assignments were confirmed as not having changed, so it was official – Australia has won a Gold, a Silver, and two Bronze medals at this year’s IOI!

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While the leaders were in the General Assembly meeting (in action above!) that (finally) confirmed the medals above, students were given a tour of ADA University, one of the main organising bodies behind this year’s IOI.

After lunch, it was time for the Closing Ceremony at the iconic Heydar Aliyev Center, famous for its innovative architecture. During the ceremony, there was yet one more twist in store for Timmy… he was accidentally skipped over when announcing the silver medallists. Never fear, the International Committee was contacted, and he proudly received his silver medal on stage, confirming a great achievement! Following the medal presentation, a couple of musical numbers were performed by Azerbaijan’s most recent representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Many photos were taken of the team (by perhaps overly zealous and proud team leaders!), as well as some photos with some other teams, such as our FARIO partners and friends France, who should be congratulated on their best ever medal haul, and New Zealand, who had joined as at our Selection School in April.

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At a rather crowded dinner, Angus was presented a coveted USA Computing Olympiad t-shirt by the USA Team Leader, as a congratulations for his full score in the USACO US Open earlier in the year. After dinner, guests were free to roam around the exhibitions in the upper levels of the center. Students and leaders returned to their accommodation, to say final goodbyes ahead of departures tomorrow!

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