Nicola Abusaad

Nicola AbuSaad is a Palestinian competitive programmer from Bethlehem. Competing for Palestine under the Codeforces handle _RED__, he won a bronze medal at IOI 2022 in Yogyakarta, placing 142nd with 180/600 -- his best of four straight IOI appearances (2019-2022) and also competed at APIO 2020 and 2021. On Codeforces he is a Candidate Master (rating 1925, peak 2216) with over 1,564 problems solved. Beyond competing, he wrote a widely-upvoted Codeforces post organizing fundraising and awareness for Palestinian youth at the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Notes5

• Won bronze at IOI 2022 in Yogyakarta while competing for Palestine, finishing 142nd with 180/600 as the standout result of his four IOI appearances (2019-2022).Aug 15, 2022
• Authored a Codeforces blog (82 upvotes) rallying support for Palestinian youth at the International Mathematical Olympiad, linking a GoFundMe (gofund.me/ca4d8228) -- shows he is an organizer/advocate for Palestinian olympiad participation, not just a competitor.Jul 2022
• Codeforces handle _RED__ reached Candidate Master with contest rating 1925 and max 2216, and has solved 1564 problems all-time -- a high-volume, long-term competitive programmer rather than a one-contest medalist.2025
• Represented Palestine at IOI 2020, 2021 and 2022, and APIO 2020/2021, an unusually long high-school olympiad run that points to a sustained mentor/coach pipeline role in the Palestinian team.May 2021
• Codeforces profile shows last visit ~7 months before Sept 2026 (early 2026) and only 5 problems solved in the last year, suggesting competitive programming has become a background activity as he moved into university/other work.Feb 2026
• Name appears as 'Nicola Nader Nicola Abusaad' on APIO 2020 results -- Nader Nicola Abu Saad is a Software Engineering lecturer at Bethlehem University, suggesting a family link to Bethlehem University academia.2020
• Codeforces profile lists him in the 'Bakry Fan Club' organization, tying him to a Palestinian olympiad training circle around coach/mentor Bakry.