I believe the original intent of such Olympiads was to test how pupils equipped with only standard school education would tackle non-standard puzzles. Eventually this turned into pupils attending special schools, having coaches, doing such non-standrdad puzzles all day long during their studies in order to win medals. A leetcode grind all the way down.

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oytis 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

I think it's the other way round. There were special schools or special groups in regular schools that prepared Soviet children to STEM careers by making them solve a lot of puzzles. Then IMO appeared on top of that to celebrate highest achievers

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nottorp 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just like the physical Olympiads :)

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corimaith 4 days ago | parent [-]

The Olympics were originally founded on the principle of amateurism, on grassroots, individual passion and love of the sport, not as a career or life achievement.

To see what's its become today, especially how some suffer greatly to get the gold medal is depressing, if not disgusting when all of this are ultimately trivial activities. They were supposed to be a unifying reprieve from the real issues of the 20th century, not another stage of brutal national competition.

	▲	nottorp 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Thought the physical Olympics were a bit older than the 20th century. By about 2700 years.

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naijaboiler 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This!