Two pre-university students from Villa Clara obtain bronze medal in International Olympiad in Informatics

September 22, 2020

Humberto Yusta Gómez and Manuel Darío Oliver Ballesteros, students of Centro Mixto Obdulio Morales de Zulueta and the Instituto Preuniversitario Vocacional de Ciencias Exactas (IPVCE) "Ernesto Guevara" of Villa Clara, respectively, won bronze medals each in the 32nd edition of the International Olympiad in Informatics, organized by Singapore and disputed among competitors from around 90 nations in a virtual format.

From the Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas, the Cuban headquarters of the event, twelfth-grade student Humberto Yusta Gómez accumulated 249.14 points to obtain, in addition to the bronze medal, the second-best score in Ibero-America.

For his part, Manuel Darío Oliver Ballesteros, a tenth-grade student, achieved alongside the bronze medal the fourth-best score in the Ibero-American region with a total of 245.71 points.

Cuba was also represented at the event by students from IPVCE "Ernesto Guevara", Leonardo Daniel Artiles Montero (175 points) and Alberto Leyva Guerra (141 points), who tested their skills in problem analysis, algorithm design, and competitive programming.

At the close of the activities of the International Olympiad in Informatics at its Cuban headquarters at UCLV, Dr.C. José Antonio Marimón Carrazana, Vice-Rector of Extension, Computerization and Communication of the educational institution, shared with the participants and support staff who accompanied the competitors, future students of the technological careers at the institution of higher learning and members of its competitive programming movement.

"For us it has been a pleasure to receive you at UCLV, we also congratulate the parents who have supported their talent and dedication and the work teams of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computing and the Computerization Department of our university who have ensured the competition."

With this participation, Cuba has attended 29 of the 32 editions of the International Olympiad in Informatics held up to 2019. The country had no representation in the United States 2003 due to visa problems and in Thailand 2011 and Australia 2013 due to budget issues to support travel.

The island has obtained at least one medal in 18 of the 28 events in which it has participated, with the best performance at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Turkey 1999, the only occasion where all team members achieved a medal (1 silver and 3 bronze).