Israeli teen’s IOI gold medal revoked after displaying Israeli flag at awards ceremony

An Israeli student, Yotam Budnik, had his gold medal revoked at the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Uzbekistan after displaying an Israeli flag during the awards ceremony. Despite knowing Israeli symbols were prohibited due to a post-October 7 rule, Budnik, an independent contestant, raised the flag as an act of protest against the perceived erasure of Israeli identity from the competition. Team leader Ron Ryvchin stated, "Yotam basically felt that this entire situation is quite absurd because the decision to forbid us from showing the flag was accepted without us being able to defend ourselves." Budnik initially refused to return the medal until his teammates received theirs, arguing the rule was discriminatory. The IOI committee subsequently disqualified him and removed his ranking. Despite this incident, other Israeli students achieved three gold and one bronze medal, with Ryvchin hoping the IOI will "leave the politics out" in the future.