Home Sports Video appears to show former U.S. Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller in...
Video appears to show former U.S. Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller in U.S. Capitol riot
Kelly CohenESPN
Klete Keller, a two-time U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist, was apparently among the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, according to video footage.
Video appears to show Keller, 38, maskless and donning a Team USA jacket during the riot. Keller was part of the U.S. swim team at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, anchoring the 4×200 freestyle. In 2004 in Athens, he notably held off Australia's Ian Thorpe to help his team — which featured Michael Phelps — win gold.
A spokesperson for USA Swimming, reached by ESPN, could neither confirm nor deny that it is Keller seen in the video, which was first reported by the swimming news site SwimSwam. Several former teammates and coaches said they recognized Keller in the video, according to a report by The New York Times.
A Townhall Media reporter shared the now-viral video from inside the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6, and Keller allegedly appears around the 12-second mark.
"[W]e respect private individuals' and groups' rights to peacefully protest but in no way condone the actions taken by those at the Capitol last week," a USA Swimming spokesperson told ESPN on Tuesday.
Keller had most recently worked as a real estate agent in Colorado Springs with the agency Hoff & Leigh. His employment was confirmed to SwimSwam, but his profile has since been removed.
Keller has since deleted all of his social media accounts, though had posted in the past his ardent support of President Donald Trump. The most recent public photos of him on Instagram are from 2017 at an event outside Boston.
The Jan. 6 riots by pro-Trump supporters in protest of the election certification of President-elect Joe Biden resulted in the death of five people, including a U.S. Capitol police officer. Dozens of people have since been arrested, and the FBI said Tuesday they've opened more than 160 case files and are investigating more than 100,000 pieces of digital evidence they have received.
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