The South African IOI team for 2025 was recently announced and, 19 months after posting this blog entry, I am proud to say I achieved my goal!

If you really want something, go for it — even if it feels far off. Progress might be slow, and you'll hit walls:

• In 2023, I didn't even qualify for my country's national finals.

• In 2024, I got the exact required cutoff mark to qualify for the finals.

But I still tried :)

Congratulations to madamadam, DeathIsAwe, and clementinesparrow13 for also making the team. I'm looking forward to the contest in Bolivia!