INTERNATIONAL Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2016 participant Yaseen Mowzer is delighted after scooping a bronze medal in Russia.
The Fairbairn College matric pupil won a bronze medal at IOI 2015 in Kazakhstan and achieved a similar feat at the International Mathematics Olympiad earlier this year.
The 18-year-old and last year’s SA Programming Olympiad winner Ulrik de Muelenaere from Gauteng brought back a bronze medal each from Russia.
Young computer programmers from 86 countries attended the annual competition between August 12 to 19.
Mowzer, Muelenaere, Abbotts College matric pupil Laurens Weyn and SACS matric pupil Bronson Rudner represented the South African team which was led by Robert Spencer and Robin Visser in Russia.
Mowzer yesterday said it was “nerve-racking” to compete against the best in the world especially in the few minutes just before the contest began.
“I was very proud of winning that medal, since it was the first time I participated in the competition and I was glad that my hard work paid off. I spent a lot of time on the weekends practicing by participating in international online contests. The contests last between four to five hours. The computer Olympiad organisers also held 2-day long training camps at UCT on weekends,” he said.
The teenager’s win will made him eligible to compete in the IOI in 2017. He said he planned to to study Computer Science next year at university and will participate in the South African Computer Olympiad.
Standard Bank Programming Olympiad Peter Wakes said all the team members came from ordinary schools, yet performed extremely well each year.
“The IOI is extremely tough. In many countries teams are in special schools where they receive dedicated training to prepare them for the IOI. To give you some idea; our team member who was lowest in the South African team still beat the entire teams from Nigeria, Luxembourg and Sri Lanka,” he said.