Students win prizes at the Brazilian Computer Olympics
The youngsters were the only ones from the state of Rio de Janeiro in the national medal table
IMPA Tech undergraduates Mateus Almeida and Lucas Fraga were the only students from the state of Rio de Janeiro to win medals in the senior level of the programming modality of the 27th OBI (Brazilian Informatics Olympiad). The final stage of the exam has 5 programming tasks that can be solved using a language such as Python, C, C++, Java and Javascript. This level is aimed at students in their 1st year of undergraduate studies or their 4th year of technical education.
Mateus Almeida won a silver medal, coming 5th out of 1,940 participants from all over Brazil. This was the first OBI award for the student, who is also an OBMEP (Brazilian Public School Math Olympics) medalist. “[Receiving this medal] is gratifying, but I’m not going to be totally satisfied with the result, I believe I have a lot to improve and I’ll always try to evolve in order to win a medal at the SBC (Brazilian Programming Society) and, if I dream big, at the ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest),” he said.
Lucas Fraga won a bronze medal and came 19th. “I really like the Olympiad and I think it’s a great incentive to study. I believe that IMPA Tech’s programming classes have a very good level and may have helped me in the Olympiad,” he said. Fraga is also an OBMEP and OBM (Brazilian Math Olympics) medalist, achievements that enabled him to enter higher education.
The OBI competition consists of three phases: local, state and national. A total of 33 IMPA Tech undergraduates took part in phase 1 of the competition. Of these, 20 qualified and took part in phase 2 in August. Finally, 7 qualified for phase 3, which took place on September 27 at UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
IMPA Tech students in phase 3 of the test, held at UFRJ
Student Gabriela Naomi Ogido was IMPA Tech’s best-placed female representative, winning 75th place nationally.
As well as winning the OBI, Fraga and Almeida have already taken part in other programming competitions. In September, alongside student Amon Vanderlei, the duo was approved for the final phase of the SBC Programming Marathon (Brazilian Programming Society). Together, the students came 39th in the national ranking, out of 984 teams. O SBC’s final challengewhich is the largest competitive programming event in Brazil, will be held in São Paulo from November 6 to 9.
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