Klete Keller, a champion swimmer who won two Olympic gold medals as a relay teammate of Michael Phelps, was identified by former teammates and coaches as a member of the crowd that surged into the U.S. Capitol during violent protests on Wednesday.
A video posted by a reporter from a conservative outlet, Townhall, appeared to show the 6-foot-6 Keller towering over a crowd that was pushing and shoving with police officers who were trying to clear the Capitol Rotunda.
Several former teammates and coaches said they recognized Keller in the video because of his size and because he was wearing a U.S. Olympic team jacket that had “USA” printed across the back and down the sleeves.
A green face covering, which might have obscured his identity, hung loosely around his neck, leaving his bearded face clearly visible.
A swimming news site, SwimSwam, first reported Keller’s presence at the Capitol riot on Monday. The video had been circulating in the swimming community since last week, and several people who saw it are said to have reported Keller to the authorities.
Efforts to reach Keller were unsuccessful.
On Tuesday night, the Colorado real estate firm that had employed him for the past three years, Hoff & Leigh, announced that Keller had resigned “effective immediately.”
“Hoff & Leigh supports the right of free speech and lawful protest but we cannot condone actions that violate the rule of law,” the company said in a brief statement.
Few of the people who recognized Keller in the video expressed surprise at his presence in Washington. His deleted social media accounts, several of them said, had in recent years included a stream of pro-Trump messaging.
Capitol Riot Fallout
No video has emerged of Keller participating in any violent acts in the Capitol, but his mere presence in the building, if confirmed by the authorities, may have placed him in legal jeopardy. Numerous people who entered the building now face federal charges that include unlawful entry and disorderly conduct. More serious charges include theft of government property and firearms violations.
Keller, 38, was a member of three U.S. Olympic teams, and he won medals at three Olympics, including golds at the Athens Games in 2004 and at the Beijing Games in 2008 as a member of the 4×200-meter relay team. He won silver in the event at the 2000 Sydney Games.
A powerful freestyler, Keller produced his signature moment in 2004 in Athens. Days after winning a second straight bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle, Keller gained a measure of revenge when he held off the gold medalist, Ian Thorpe of Australia, on the anchor leg of the relay final. Phelps swam the leadoff leg for the American team, which included Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay.
Keller had worked in recent years as a real estate broker in Colorado Springs. His agency, Hoff & Leigh, confirmed he was employed there when contacted by SwimSwam, but by Monday night the company had removed Keller’s profile and nearly all references to him from its website.
Asked about Keller’s employment on Tuesday morning, a woman who answered the phone at the company said, “We can’t give out any information on that at this moment.” By Tuesday night, though, the firm had deleted its own Twitter account and emailed a statement to news organizations in which it said Keller had quit.
A cached version of Keller’s Hoff & Leigh contact page, though, included a biography that described Keller as a broker associate with three years of real estate experience. His career as an elite athlete, the company said, had made him “extremely driven.”
A call to a cellphone number for Keller listed on the page produced a message that he was not available.
