VC: I was at the IMO as a team guide–a friendly face for one of the countries. There are about 100 countries, and I was the guide for Denmark, so if they had a question, I was there to answer it. It was a great experience.
GTF: Can you tell me about your journey participating in math Olympiads?
VC: When I was eight, I did a competition that was related to math in some way. I think an important turning point was in my hometown, Kharkiv, in Ukraine. I reached the regional level of the Olympiads, but at times I was underperforming. I was doing worse than my classmates who had the same abilities as me. They were studying with different teachers, so they were better.
Thanks to my parents, I started learning from the same teachers, and I became as good as my classmates. I do competitions for two reasons. First, the spirit of the competition—the process before and during is very exciting because you’re anticipating it, then sitting down to solve the problems. I don’t enjoy it as much after the competition, though.
Second, as you prepare and solve problems that are just slightly above your ability, each one feels like a little journey. It's exciting to work through them and figure out the solution path.
VC: That part is nice—meeting people from different places. It’s cool that they’re all international and different from me. Whether they’re from the nearest city or a distant country, it’s just nice to meet new people, and to see people you’ve met at previous events. As a team guide at the IMO, I recognized many participants who were there for the second time. It’s a small, close-knit.
GTF: What do you like to do in your free time?
VC: I love playing sports with people, but I don’t really care what sport it is as long as it’s with others. I do swimming, football, and tennis. I also play chess, though that’s not always a good thing since I tend to play too much.
My favorite sport is football because I’ve been playing it longer than anything else. I think I’m pretty good—I’ve developed a bit of intuition for it. But I’m not competitive at all, especially since I play with a semi-professional player. My friends and I all know that we can’t really compete, so there’s no element of rivalry. But if you can pull off a great dribble or something, those moments bring satisfaction after the game.
GTF: Can you explain a bit about your experience teaching?
VC: Since finishing Ukrainian school last year, I’ve been teaching some students from my old school, sharing a few math tricks here and there.
GTF: What advice would you give to someone starting math Olympiads?
VC: First, don’t take my advice too seriously because I’m not an expert! But, seriously, there’s no reason to rush. It doesn’t matter if you start aiming for results at a very young age. Many top mathematics and programming Olympians began just two or three years before finishing school and still became much better than those who trained for ten years. So I think you should just live your life, and then maybe in the middle of high school, if you realize it’s fun for you, you still have time to dive in. There’s no need to start very early.
