Posted Friday 20 August 2010

Australia's Informatics Olympiad team has won two Bronze Medals at the 22nd International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

The medallists are Evgeny Martynov, of James Ruse Agricultural High School and Luke Harrison. of Normanhurst Boys High School.

With their medals are Egveny (left) and Luke (right).

The team about to depart for the Closing Ceremony, from left Luke Harrison, Evgeny Martynov, Robert Newey and Kenneth Wong.

After having arrived at the ceremony venue here they are also with Team Leader Bernard Blackham (left) and Deputy Jarrah Lacko (second from left).

Individual score breakdowns were as follows:

		NAME	YR	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	TOT
		HARRISON Luke Normanhurst Boys High School NSW	12	100	50	54	40	100	100	72	50	566
		MARTYNOV Evgeny James Ruse Agricultural High School NSW	11	100	50	73	60	100	100	61	50	594
		NEWEY Robert Cobar High School NSW	11	100	25	55	40	100	100	44	50	514
		WONG Kenneth James Ruse Agricultural High School NSW	12	100	50	0	40	100	100	61	50	501
		TOTALS		400	175	182	180	400	400	238	200	2175

Cutoffs for Gold, Silver and Bronze were and 686, 620 and 538 points, respectively.

Team Leader was Bernard Blackham, while Deputy Team Leader was Jarrah Lacko, both from Sydney.

The Olympiad program, like the ones in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, are held under the auspices of UNESCO and significant support is provided by the Australian Government through its Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR).

Australia's participation in the IOI is administered by the Australian Mathematics Trust, based at the University of Canberra. Trust Executive director Professor Peter Taylor noted that performance in these Olympiads was just the tip of the iceberg.

He said that hundreds of thousands of students participate in school based activities first under the supervision of teachers, and students can develop their knowledge in these disciplines in stages to a very high level beyond classroom experience, enhancing their University study and later careers.

"Many of Australia's leading scientists under the age of about 40 are products of these programs and are serving their country in science in areas such as climate change and defence", he said.

Earlier ...

Posted Sunday 15 August 2010, updated Thursday 19 August 2010.

Australia's Informatics Olympiad team has attended the Opening Ceremony for the 22nd International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), in Waterloo, Canada.

The team is shown here before the ceremony. From left are Deputy Leader Jarrah Lacko, Leader Bernard Blackham, Evgeny Martynov, Robert Newey, Luke Harrison and Kenneth Wong.

The team after the Opening Ceremony, from left Luke, Evgeny, Robert and Kenneth.

After the Opening Ceremony Robert is interviewed for Canadian national broadcaster CTV.

Manager Peter Taylor with the Waterloo Warriors cheer squad after the Opening Ceremony, in which they had performed.

Jarrah Lacko and Christopher Chen are part of a strong Australian delegation here. They are shown here during the Niagara excursion. Jarrah is a dual Silver medallist at IOIs, while Christopher is a dual Gold Medallist. Jarrah and Christopher first won medals together in Mexico 2006. Christopher backed up with a second Gold in Croatia 2007 while Jarrah backed up with a second Silver in Egypt 2008. Jarrah is Deputy Leader of the Australian Team while Christopher is here as a member of the Host Scientific Committee. Both are involved training the Australian teams and both are pursuing degrees in Computer Science in Australian Universities, Jarrah at UNSW and Christopher at the University of Melbourne. Christopher first participated as a 13 year old in Poland 2005.

At the Niagara excursion, Australians, from left Bernard Blackham, Team Leader, Christopher Chen, Host Scientific Committee, Ben Burton, member of the International Scientific Committee of IOI, and Peter Taylor, team manager and member of the International Committee of IOI.

The exams have taken place and a final report will appear within the next day or so.