An Israeli high school student who won a gold medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Uzbekistan was disqualified after displaying the Israeli flag on the victory podium. Yotam Budnik, a 12th-grade student from Rehovot, refused to return the medal he was awarded.
According to reports, Budnik brought an Israeli flag and unveiled it after accepting his award, despite restrictions on Israeli participants competing or displaying their national flag. Following this action, his official recognition was revoked, and organizers requested the return of his physical gold medal. Budnik reportedly declined to comply.
This incident stands in contrast to Budnik's experience weeks earlier at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Shanghai, China, where he also won a gold medal representing Israel. At that event, he openly displayed the Israeli flag without facing any sanction.
Official results from the International Olympiad in Informatics show Budnik placed 23rd among 666 competitors from 117 countries, earning a gold medal with 33 points. This was his second consecutive gold medal at the mathematics competition, having also won gold in 2025 and a bronze in 2024.
Budnik reportedly criticized the restrictions as political, asserting that the disqualification did not diminish his achievement. While organizers in Uzbekistan could remove his name from the official leaderboard, they were unable to reclaim the medal he refused to return.
OutKick reached out to the International Olympiad in Informatics for clarification on the rule Budnik allegedly violated and the basis for his disqualification but had not received an immediate response.