The competitions have concluded, the winners announced, but there is one issue. Based on the competition results, my friends — a team of three students — are on the edge of qualifying for the finals (so far, only 12 teams have been confirmed), yet for some reason, one of the slots has gone to a 33-year-old coach who has spent his entire life in competitive programming.

Yes, older students can officially participate in ICPC under special rules (https://icpc.global/regionals/rules). However, there are specific regulations. Firstly, there must be a valid reason for interruption of study. Secondly, the coach must demonstrate that allowing their participation would not give the team an unfair advantage.

I have no complaints about the rules or the organizers. My primary concern is with the coach, who intentionally concealed the participant's background to obtain a participation permit. We are dealing with an individual who has token top places in school and collegiate competitions, has been involved in training and problem preparation, and is a professional lecturer in competitive programming, and many more. The interruption in his studies was due to a trivial issue of poor attendance (he was expelled for academic underperformance). The petition submitted to the ICPC committee essentially stated (I saw it): "Hi. I have a student who has never participated in ICPC contests, but he loves programming very much. He would like a chance to compete. Please allow him to participate." This is a rough paraphrase of the petition, but the essence is clear — do to not mention anything about him and portray him as an ordinary student to easily secure a spot in the finals.

In my opinion, the coach has grossly violated the official ICPC rules and principles of fair play. There have been instances in history where teams deceived the organizers to gain unfair advantages, but they faced consequences. It seems this is yet another such situation.