Four Vietnamese students take a photo with their teachers at the International Olympiad in Informatics (Photo: VOV)

A notable success for the Vietnamese team was Bui Hong Duc, a 12th-grade student at the Natural Science High School for Gifted Students under the Hanoi National University, who achieved a gold medal, going on to rank 11th out of 343 overall contestants in the competition. Two bronze medals went to Vu Hoang Kien and Le Quang Huy of the Natural Science High School for Gifted Students under the Hanoi National University. Meanwhile, Tran Quang Thanh, a 12th grade student at the High School for Gifted Students under the Hanoi National University of Education, clinched a silver medal. Overall, Vietnam finished ninth in the world rankings, with China topping the list bagging a total of four gold medals.

The IOI is an annual international informatics competition that is held among individual contestants from a variety of invited countries. The tournament is one of the five international science Olympiads that is held each year and widely considered one of the most prestigious computer science competitions globally. 

Each of the tasks during the event are of an algorithmic nature, although contestants have to display basic IT skills such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, in addition to programming and testing. 

This year’s event, hosted by Singapore, witnessed the participation of 343 contestants from 87 countries and territories globally. Last year’s competition saw Vietnam win two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, ranking fourth behind China, Russia, and the United States.