A national hero: Yotam Budnik sacrificed a world championship win for the flag of Israel
A huge achievement for Israeli competitors at the International Olympiad in Informatics: they won 3 gold medals while participating under the Olympic flag because Israel was boycotted. However, one of the winners, Yotam Budnik, refused to give in and wore an Israeli flag during the medal ceremony, which led to his medal being revoked. "I wanted to protest against the sanctions," he told ice.
Pride for Israel at the IOI International Olympiad in Informatics held in Uzbekistan: 3 high school students from Israel won gold medals and one more won bronze. Drama occurred at the medal ceremony after Yotam Budnik, one of our winners, pulled out an Israeli flag in violation of the regulations, and his medal was revoked.
The Israeli team in computer science has always been at the world top of world championships, but in 2024 it was decided to suspend the team because of the war in Gaza. Last year Israel did not participate in the competition, while this year 4 team members managed to obtain external funding and flew to compete under the Olympic flag.
Yoav Shamai, Yotam Budnik, Amir Crispin and Daniel Peri-Nes upon their return to Israel (photo: private)
The result: Daniel Peri-Nes from Kiryat Ono, Yotam Budnik from Rehovot and Yoav Shamai from Ramat Gan won a gold medal, and Amir Crispin from Rishon LeZion won a bronze medal. If Israel had officially participated in the competition, it would have been ranked second in the world — after China and before the USA. In doing so, the students equaled the best achievement in Israel's history at the championship, which was achieved two years ago.
But the real drama surrounding the competition occurred at its closing ceremony: the gold medalist, Yotam Budnik, decided that he was not prepared to go up to the medal ceremony without the flag of Israel, as is customary among all countries. However, the organizers were not prepared for this since Israel is suspended from the competition.
Budnik hid an Israeli flag in his back pocket in advance, and after he was awarded the medal, he pulled out the flag and wrapped himself in it. When he came down from the stage, the organizers informed him that due to the step he had taken, he must return the medal or his win would be canceled. Budnik replied that he would not return the medal. After an emergency vote among the championship organizers, Budnik's win was revoked and his name was pushed to the bottom of the participant table. The gold medal remained in his possession.
This evening, Budnik told the ice website:
"I went up with the flag because I wanted to protest against the sanctions imposed on Israel. In my opinion, it is ridiculous to mix politics into a computer science competition, and to punish high school students for their country of origin. Besides, the sanctions imposed on Israel were accepted unfairly, when Israel was illegally not invited to the 2024 Olympiad, which only adds to the lack of fairness and logic."
