An Olympic gold medalist in swimming was part of the group of President Donald Trump's supporters that stormed the United States Capitol Building on Jan. 6. The man in question, as first reported by SwimSwam.com, is Klete Keller, who won two gold medals as a relay teammate of Michael Phelps. After Keller was charged for his role in the riots on Wednesday, he turned himself in on Thursday.
He was officially charged with one felony, obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties incident to civil disorder, and two misdemeanors: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds
Keller was identified by "a dozen people within the sport," according to SwimSwam.com, in a review of footage and various screenshots from the riot that made its way inside the Capitol. The swimmer was identified not only because of his height -- he stands at 6-feet-6-inches -- but also because he was wearing a U.S. Olympics-branded team jacket during the charge into the federal building and did not have anything obscuring his face.
BREAKING: Klete Keller, the Olympic gold medalist swimmer from USC pictured in the U.S. Capitol during last week's riot, has been charged in U.S. District Court in D.C.
— Nathan Fenno (@nathanfenno) January 13, 2021
The 38-year-old has deleted his social media accounts, but The New York Times reports that his feeds "included a stream of pro-Trump messaging" to the point that the people who identified him in the footage were not surprised he was in the Capitol building.
Despite that the only footage of his presence in the Capitol, posted by conservative news outlet Townhall, shows him not actively combatting officers or defacing any property, Keller being identified meant that it was only a matter of time before he would be in some sort of legal jeopardy, as the FBI has been going after people who were illegally in the federal building with charges.
The former Olympic swimmer faces up to five years in prison, and a $250,000 fine, for his felony charge, and up to one year and six months for the two misdemeanors, respectively, in addition to another quarter million fine attached to each. Keller's court hearing also noted that he could face additional charges from a grand jury.
Keller is perhaps best known for his performance in the 2004 Olympics in Athens where, as anchor of the U.S. 800-meter free relay team, he held off gold medalist Ian Thorpe to help secure Team USA a gold medal in the event.
