Kiwi Winners At Computer Programme Olympiad

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New Zealanders Amongst the winners at the World’s Top Computer Programmers International Olympiad

Two New Zealanders have proudly taken the stage to receive bronze medals at the world’s foremost and most prestigious programming contest for high school students. Jamie Mc Closkey from Akaora and Boris Pfahringer from Hamilton are thrilled with their success in the 2009 International Olympiad in Informatics.

310 contestants from approximately 80 countries took part in the arduous competition

The ceremony was held at the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria was the scene of another kiwi victory this weekend. “To be one of the medal winners is fantastic.” said Pfahringer who is a student at Hamilton Boys’ High School. The competition took place over two five-hour days and the students were given four programming problems each day. “We had to find and implement efficient algorithms to solve the problems, with run-time and memory limitations on the resulting program. The contest was very difficult and it was a nerve-racking wait for the medal ceremony.”

McCloskey, a year 11 student at Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti, is well aware of the standard expected as he also represented New Zealand last year in Cairo. “The competition is the culmination of months of hard work,” he reflected “with lots of training and contests. However, we wouldn’t be here without the efforts of others. We get lots of support from the New Zealand Olympiad in Informatics organisation (NZOI), from our schools, from individual mentors and of course sponsors who have assisted with travel and training.” .

This year the team was sponsored by ACE Training, Datacom, Solnet and Auckland University.

New Zealand first competed in the IOI in 2006 and this is the second year in a row that Kiwis have appeared on the medal list. Margot Phillipps, the executive director of the NZOI, said that she was excited that New Zealand has proven itself again this year. “We are a small country, with no National Computer Science curriculum so winning two medals is a huge achievement. We have demonstrated that our students can hold their own at international levels. ” She added that she hopes that the success of the team will inspire and encourage other students.

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