Article by: anees

International Olympiad Information (IOI) 2021 Japanese athletes win 2 gold and 2 silver, Sugai ranked 6th in the world

The 33rd International Olympiad Information Olympics (IOI) was held online from June 19th to 28th, 2021, with four participants from Japan. They won two gold medals and two silver medals. Announced by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology and the Japan Committee for Information Olympics. It is the 16th consecutive year that the Japanese national team has won the gold medal.

351 high school students from 88 countries and regions around the world participated in the competition and competed in the problem-solving ability of mathematical information science such as devising algorithms. Gold medals are awarded to the top one-twelfth, and silver medals are awarded to the next two-twelfths.

The results of the Japanese national team players are as follows (honorific titles omitted).

Ryoaki Sugai (Sugai Ryomei, Tokyo Shibuya Education Academy Shibuya High School 3rd year) Gold medal
Daiki Kodama (Kodama / Daiki, Hyogo / Nada High School 1st year) Gold medal
Rintaro Matsuo (Matsuo Rintaro, Tokyo, Azabu High School 2nd year) Silver medal
Yuto Watanabe (Watanabe Yuto, Chiba Shibuya Education Academy Makuhari High School 2nd year) Silver medal

Four representatives from Japan at the 33rd International Olympiad Information Olympics. From the left, Daiki Kodama, Ryoaki Sugai, Rintaro Matsuo, Yuto Watanabe (provided by the Japan Committee for Information Olympics)

This time, 30 people were given gold medals. Sugai was in 6th place and Kodama was in 28th place. In countries with many gold medals, four Chinese players monopolized the top 1 to 4 and won 4 medals. There were three each in the United States, Russia, and Singapore.

Mr. Matsuo, a silver medal, won the gold medal at the 32nd tournament last year, which is the second consecutive year.

Competitions are required to come up with efficient and high-quality algorithms (algorithm design) and implement correct-working solution programs to solve problems that imitate social issues. A competition to solve 3 questions in 5 hours a day was held for 2 days.

The Japanese national team has been dispatched for three years since 1994, and after a break, four people have been dispatched every year since 2006. This time, it was selected from the participants of the domestic competition "20th Japan Information Olympics" in which 1310 people participated.