The IOI is described as the world’s most prestigious computer science competition for high school students and hosts over 300 participants from over 80 countries each year.
Global liquidity provider and trading firm Jane Street is the headline sponsor of the IITPSA Computer Programming Olympiad and of the South African IOI Team 2024. SoftwareOne, the world’s trusted source for enterprise software and cloud procurement, has also come on board as a gold sponsor of the IITPSA Computer Olympiad activities this year.
Team SA was selected from the top performers in the 2023 Programming Olympiad – part of the South African Computer Olympiads and a flagship initiative of the IITPSA. This year’s team includes Minkyum Kim and Youkyum Kim of Reddam House Durbanville, who represented South Africa at IOI 2023 in Hungary. Minkyum Kim, a repeat top performer in the Computer Olympiads, also represented South Africa at IOI 2022 in Indonesia.
Representing South Africa at IOI for the first time this year are Hugo Bruwer of Paarl Boys’ High and Yian Xu of Redhill High. Yian Xu is the second girl learner to make the IOI Team since the IOI held in Beijing in 2000, when Liesl Penzhorn made it on the team and received a bronze medal for South Africa that year.
Muhammad Shah Khan of UJ Metropolitan Academy is the team reserve.
Senele Goba, President of the IITPSA, says: “South African students have taken part in numerous IOI events over the years, and traditionally performed very well. We congratulate the team members selected to represent South Africa in 2024, and we are confident that they will make South Africa proud this year.”
Thanking sponsors Jane Street and SoftwareOne, Goba says: “The IITPSA is deeply appreciative of the support from our sponsors, which enables us to expand the reach and impact of the Olympiads, and offer our young people a rare opportunity to experience international travel and competition, which is also a springboard for their pursuit of careers in ICT.”
Tony Parry, CEO of the IITPSA, adds: “Participants who are still in school this year still stand a chance to be selected for the 2025 IOI SA Team through this year’s 2024 Programming Olympiad. The first round of the Programming Olympiad starts on 29 July and will run until 2 August. We encourage schools to participate in this event, to give their learners exposure to challenging competition and an opportunity to be considered for the international IOI. Participation in the event offers students a chance to travel and engage with their international peers, as well as programming experience and a number of cultural and social programmes.”
South African schools interested in participating in the Talent Search, Programming Olympiad or Applications Olympiad can register at https://olympiad.org.za/. Online trials are also available on the site to help prepare learners.
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