An Israeli schoolboy who won a gold medal at a major computer science competition has been stripped of his victory after displaying an Israeli flag on the winners’ podium.
Yotam Budnik, a 12th-grade student from Rehovot, was removed from the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) official rankings after he unfurled the flag and draped it around his shoulders during the medal ceremony in Uzbekistan.
Unlike other Olympiads, the IOI has barred Israeli entrants from competing under their national flag, like those from Russia and Belarus, since 2024. As a result, Bodnik and three other Israeli students were forced to participate independently.
Immediately after the ceremony, competition organisers demanded that Budnik return his medal, claiming he had violated the rules, but he refused.
“They decided it was horrible and wanted to take it just in case, but I knew that if they tried to take it by force it would already be considered a crime, so I just told them ‘no’,” Budnik told Israeli public broadcaster Kan.
“The medal is still in my pocket. The achievement is mine and thanks to myself, their official disqualification doesn’t mean much.”
The organisers later revoked his official recognition and removed his name from the leaderboard, while allowing the physical medal to remain in his possession
Pictures of Budnik with the Israeli flag standing alongside other competitors carrying their countries’ flags were posted online.
Budnik said he had deliberately brought his country’s flag to the competition and kept it concealed in his pocket before stepping onto the podium.
“During the entire time on stage, my legs were shaking from the stress, but as soon as I waved it, I had no more dilemmas,” he said. “I looked at the audience and looked for reactions, but I didn’t even hear boos. I just smiled and was happy.”
The incident has drawn comparisons with Budnik’s performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Shanghai just weeks earlier, where he won gold while representing Israel and openly displayed the Israeli flag after his victory without facing a similar sanction.
Israeli students reportedly won three gold medals and one bronze at this week’s IOI competition, with their participation funded independently. The team was trained at the University Youth Center at Bar-Ilan University.
Budnik said he regarded the restriction on displaying the Israeli flag as political and inappropriate for an academic competition.
“The law that prevents me from waving the flag is based solely on politics, and I thought it had no place in a scientific competition,” he explained.
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