Klete Keller Biography, Wiki
Klete Keller was born in Las Vegas, Nevada to mother Karen and father Kelly. Keller is an American former swimmer who won medals at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
He was captured on video participating in the U.S. Capitol riots last week, has been arrested and charged, PEOPLE confirms.
Keller grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Keller graduated from Arcadia High School in 2000.
Age
Klete Keller is 38-years-old.
Family & Siblings
His father had played basketball and his mother had swam for Arizona State University. Both his sisters would be swimmers, with older sister Kelsey swimming for University of Washington, and younger sister Kalyn swimming for University of Southern California and competing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Neither Keller or his family responded to PEOPLE’s attempts to reach them for comment. Keller has not made any public statements regarding his reported involvement in what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell later denounced as a “failed insurrection” attempt.
Career
Keller attended the University of Southern California for two years from 2000 to 2001, but left school to focus on swimming.
While at USC, Keller won multiple individual and relay Pac-10 and NCAA Championships in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle, as well as freestyle relays.
Keller participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 summer Olympics.
During the 4×200-meter freestyle relay in Athens in 2004, Keller held off a charging Ian Thorpe in the anchor leg to win the race by 0.13 seconds.This was the first time Australia had been beaten in the event in over seven years. In January 2016, Andy Ross of Swimming World named it as one of the greatest Olympic relays of all-time.
The American relay of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, and Keller were undefeated in competition from the Athens games onward. Vanderkaay, Larsen Jensen, Erik Vendt, and Keller made up the core of the premier American mid-distance/distance freestyle swimmers.
Klete was one of many 2000 Olympic medalists from The Race Club World Team, a summer swimming camp in Florida.
From 2004 to 2007, Keller trained at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor under Bob Bowman and former head coach Jon Urbanchek. He left Ann Arbor and returned to USC to finish school and train under coach Dave Salo.
Twice during his career, he was the cover athlete of the magazine Swimming World.
Charged & Arrested
Klete Keller, the Olympic gold medalist who was captured on video participating in the U.S. Capitol riots last week, has been arrested and charged, PEOPLE confirms.
Keller, a swimmer who won two gold medals on the U.S. relay team along with Michael Phelps, is facing charges of obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties incident to civil disorder, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint by the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. obtained by PEOPLE.
Crowd continues to increase in size with Trump supporters for today’s rally in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/poVMoDPBoa
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) January 6, 2021
He was identified by former teammates and coaches via social media images showing him inside the Capitol, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The 38-year-old was seen inside the Capitol during the violent siege that left five people dead. Video on social media shows Keller wading in a crowd of rioters who were being pushed out from the Capitol Rotunda by law enforcement, inside the building.
The Times reported a number of Keller’s former teammates and coaches identified him in a video posted on Twitter by a reporter from the conservative news outlet Townhall.
Motivated by President Donald Trump, thousands of rioters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing members of Congress to evacuate and leading to the pause of the joint session called to certify the Electoral College votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.
Since then, the FBI has asked the public to help identify violent Trump supporters via social media. On Tuesday, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin said at a press conference that authorities have charged more than 70 people. However, that number is expected “to grow into the hundreds” as officials have more than 170 “subject files.”
He called the amount of potential charges “really mind blowing.”
