JEDDAH: The Saudi team collected three awards at the International Olympiad in Informatics, which took place in Hungary and attracted 360 students from 90 countries.
Hamid Al-Hudhali, a secondary school student from the Eastern Province, took a bronze medal, while Adeeb Al-Shehri received a certificate of appreciation. Issa Al-Mousa, a secondary school student from Al-Ahsa, claimed a similar certificate.
Amal Al-Hazzaa, secretary-general of the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, said that the accomplishments were made possible following the support of visionary leadership.
She added that the success continued to propel Saudi Arabia toward the realization of its goals as outlined in Vision 2030, while bolstering confidence in the students to compete on the global stage.
The olympiad, which lasted eight days, attracts exceptionally talented high school students from all over the world.
The IOI is the largest annual international competition in the field of informatics and holds the distinction of being the world’s oldest competition of its kind.
Students engage in a rigorous contest to refine their information-related skills, and problem analysis, algorithm design, data structures, programming, and testing are all monitored.
Each participant must complete three tasks and aim to solve them within a five-hour time frame.
The event ranks as the second-largest olympiad competition, behind only the International Mathematics Olympiad.
Participation in the IOI is limited to four students from each country.
The inaugural event took place in Bulgaria in 1989, supported by UNESCO and the International Federation for Information Processing. The Kingdom began its involvement in the competition in 2019.
