In the Olympics of Algorithms, a Russian Keeps Winning Gold – Technology Review.

If Vladimir Putin glances out the windows of the Kremlin window at just the right moment, he has a chance of glimpsing the world’s best computer programmer in Google’s Moscow office across the river.

He is Petr Mitrichev, a 27-year-old Russian who works on Google’s search engine and earned his champion’s title in competitive programming, a sport where hackers write computer code in pursuit of cash prizes, travel opportunities, and a deep fulfillment unattainable anywhere else.

“You have a feeling of satisfaction in a contest when you solve a problem,” says Mitrichev, affable and a little pale in a Google T-shirt during an interview on the lawn of the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.