Peking University, April 23, 2018: Clock ticking, Luo Guojie, the PKU team coach in the 42^nd ACM-ICPC World Final, stared at the screen, with sweat flowing down his cheek. Every problem was a battle to fight for his team and for himself. When the game ended and his team was announced the third place worldwide, smiles blossomed on everyone’s face. Luo finally exhaled and raised his fist in the air to celebrate another best record for Peking University.

Go big or go home

The preparation for the contest was time-consuming with huge pressure. With two classes to teach and piles of research work to do, Luo threw himself into coaching the team from the beginning of 2018. Especially since February, he and his team had to practice over 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, besides stimulation games and discussions about tactics time after time.

Luo acknowledged the team for their hard work. “It was such a difficult task for students to spend time and energy for the contest with daily courses to handle”, he said, “and it called for diligence, passion and ability of time arrangement.” Luckily, their efforts finally paid off.

From participant to coach

It was never a new battlefield for Luo. Back in 2002, when Luo was an undergraduate student in Peking University, he participated in the ACM-ICPC World Final for the first time as a PKU-team member. 10 years later, Luo returned from overseas and worked for the team again with a new identity, the team coach. This year, he witnessed another historical moment. Not only did the team win the gold medal again, but also it was the first time for the university to hold the final of ACM-ICPC. For Luo, it is the best birthday present for his alma mater.

Luo said that it was always exciting to work with the most outstanding people. When he was the student, he was strongly impressed by the characteristics of his mentor. Now as the team coach himself, he was ready to carry on the torch passed to him by his mentor.

To win or to learn

Except for the result, another thing that excited Luo was that one of the three members of the team was from School of Mathematical Sciences. Luo expressed his hope for more students who majored in sciences, even humanities, to participate in the ACM-ICPC someday. He said that the ACM-ICPC was not just for those with contest background, and that it was a chance for those with the same interest to communicate with each other.

As for the purpose of the contest, Luo added that rather than rank higher, it was much more meaningful to make friends and improve the study ability.

Luo Guojie

Written by: Tian Gang
Edited by: Hu Rong
Source: PKU News (Chinese)