Photo Credit: olympicbg.org

The Bulgarian national team in informatics achieved its best ranking in history at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), winning 2 gold and 2 silver medals. In the unofficial team ranking, Bulgaria ranks fourth in the world, ahead of traditionally strong teams such as those of the USA and Japan.

The Olympiad was held from July 27 to August 3, 2025, in Sucre, Bolivia, and brought together 330 competitors from 84 countries. Our gold medalist, Vesselin Markovich, ranked among the top 10 in the world in the individual ranking.

Gold medals were won by:

  • Vesselin Markovich
    Vesselin is a medalist from the most prestigious international Olympiads in informatics and mathematics. He has been part of the national team for three years, and this year he also returned with a silver medal from the International Mathematical Olympiad in Australia.
  • Aleksandar Gatev
    The 12th grader is a gold medalist at the Romanian Master of Informatics 2025, the Zhautikov and Central European Olympiads. This is his second participation in the IOI.

Silver medals were won by:

  • Andrey Stefanov
    Although only in the tenth grade, Andrey can already boast two silver medals from the IOI and a silver medal from the International Mathematical Olympiad. He started programming in the 3rd grade and has been competing actively since the 6th grade.
  • Boris Mihov
    Boris is a three-time participant in the national team, with medals from numerous international competitions. He also won first place at the National Olympiad in Informatics in 2025.

The team leaders are Iliyan Yordanov (IMI–BAS) and Viktor Kozhuharov, who, with their long-term work and dedication, contribute to the development of young talents in informatics.

An interesting and little-known fact is that in 1989, at the initiative of Prof. Sendov and Prof. Kenderov, Bulgaria became the organizer and host of the first International Olympiad in Informatics. It was held in Pravets with only 13 participating countries. Today, the number of participating countries exceeds 80. Bulgaria is one of the few countries that has participated in all editions of the Olympiad so far. Our competitors have brought our country 29 gold, 57 silver and 45 bronze medals. In addition to 1989, Bulgaria hosted the Olympiad once more, in 2009, when it was held in Plovdiv.

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is one of several international science Olympiads held annually around the world. Exceptional high school students from various countries compete in this prestigious algorithmic competition to sharpen their informatics skills — such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.

Main Objectives of IOI 

  • To discover, encourage, and recognize talented high school students in informatics.
  • To foster friendly international relations among computer scientists and educators.
  • To promote the discipline of informatics to young people globally.
  • To support the organization of future IOIs and national contests.

Each participating country selects a team of up to four contestants accompanied by leaders. The team competes individually in two intense competition days, solving complex problems within limited time, testing their creativity, algorithmic knowledge, and problem-solving skills.