Who Is Agastya Goel? Indian-Origin Teen Seen With Trump After US Olympiad Win

The United States Physics Team achieved an unprecedented sweep at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in Paris, securing all five gold medals. The victorious team—consisting of Agastya Goel, Allen Li, Joshua Wang, Feodor Yevtushenko, and Brian Zhang—delivered the most successful performance in the country's competition history.

Following their triumph, the young champions received recognition at the White House, where US President Donald Trump personally congratulated them on their remarkable achievement.

Michael Kratsios, a senior Trump advisor, shared an image of the team with the President on X, stating: "Today POTUS & WHOSTP47 were proud to welcome the 2025 World Champion USA Physics Team to the White House! These incredible geniuses DOMINATED at the International Physics Olympiad in July, bringing home a record FIVE gold medals, the greatest performance in team history."

Among these exceptional winners is 17-year-old Agastya Goel, currently attending Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. This Indian-origin prodigy, son of Stanford professor Ashish Goel, has already established himself as a two-time gold medalist at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). In 2024, he ranked fourth globally with an impressive score of 438.97 out of 600, while China's Kangyang Zhou achieved a perfect score. Agastya's academic brilliance often draws comparisons to his father, who topped India's prestigious IIT-JEE examination in 1990 before pursuing an academic career.

Agastya's accomplishments extend well beyond physics. He has been a USA Computing Olympiad finalist for three consecutive years (2022-2024), earned silver at the 2023 USA Physics Olympiad, and participated in the elite Mathematical Olympiad Program. Additionally, he has contributed to PRIMES-USA and has been selected multiple times for Honor Choir. Between 2021 and 2024, he worked as a part-time researcher at Euler Circle in Palo Alto, co-authoring a mathematics paper subsequently published in The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics.

On his LinkedIn profile, Agastya describes his passion for tennis, hiking, music, and stargazing. He plays both guitar and piano, enjoys singing, and actively participates in his school's choir. He is also involved in the varsity tennis team, the Gunn Competitive Programming Club, and the Board Game Club. During leisure time, he listens to podcasts on science, economics, and world affairs, and enjoys playing frisbee and board games with friends.

Agastya's scientific curiosity developed during hikes and car rides with his father. Though initially drawn to computer science, his interests shifted during the winter of 2023, when he dedicated weeks to studying Kevin Zhou's physics handouts, including study sessions in front of the Taj Mahal during a family trip to India.

His father, Ashish Goel, originally from Uttar Pradesh, studied computer science at IIT Kanpur before obtaining his PhD at Stanford. Now a professor of Management Science and Engineering, he specializes in algorithmic game theory, computational social science, and computer networks. He also contributed to Twitter's early development, helping create the platform's monetization model.

What began as a celebration quickly sparked online debate. Observers noted that none of the medalists appeared to be white or of "traditional" American origin—a point highlighted by both supporters and critics of Trump's immigration policies.

One X user, Sarcastic Monk (@ThePiyush7), commented, "This picture alone should be enough to explain why H1B programme is important for US." Another user, Bharat Singh (@OyeBhartsingh), wrote, "100% non white Americans, threat to American jobs, Trump should deport them."

Additional comments followed, with Deep Barot (@deepbarot) posting, "LOL! Zero 'ethnic white Americans' on the physics team. One Russian, one Indian, and the rest Chinese-all non-white, immigrants of the 3 most hated countries in this country", while Zorius Veximus (@ZoriusVeximus) added, "There you go. I spot Chinese and an Indian. Yea, put more rules on H1B."

In his latest immigration policy move, Trump signed a proclamation on Friday imposing a $100,000 (over Rs 88 lakh) fee on H-1B visa applicants. Previously, the visa fee ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on employer size and other factors.