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Klete Keller, the Olympic medalist who stormed the Capitol

2021-01-23T19:22:29.146Z


The two-time Olympics gold medalist appears in a video with a group of people pushing police officers on Capitol Hill. He was charged with obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or staying in a restricted building or land without legal permission, trespassing, and disorderly conduct.


“You have done so much for me, and I disappointed you.

I did not want any of this to happen, "

repeated Klete Keller, over and over again in the middle of tears, in a telephone conversation.

On the other side of the line was Mark Schubert, his coach at the University of Southern California, one of the men who trained Keller and helped him rise to the top of the exclusive club of Olympic gold medalists in swimming.

"He apologized to me," Shubert told The New York Times about the conversation he had with his ward amid the scandal because Keller appears in a video, released on Twitter, with a group of people pushing agents of police in the assault on the Capitol.

Now the 38-year-old Keller faces

charges of obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or staying in a restricted building or land without legal permission, trespassing and disorderly conduct

.

Many wonder how someone who represented his country in the elite of world sport - participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics - ended up in a riot that sought to impede the certification process for the presidential elections.

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A few years ago, when he won his five Olympic medals, he represented the glory of American sport on international podiums.

However, his case seems to be a common situation among stars who do not know how to adapt to normal life, far from competitions and the brightness of sporting glory.

“In a matter of a few years, I went from an Olympic gold medalist to a husband, a homeowner, a guy with a number of sales jobs: life insurance, software, medical devices, financial products, and the father of three.

I had a hard time accepting who I was without swimming,

”he said in a 2018 interview.

Keller also went through a stormy divorce and experienced a deep depression that led him to spend nearly a year living in his car.

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I was paying child support and couldn't rent a place, so I lived in my car for almost a year

.

I had a Ford Fusion at the time, so it was quite a challenge to sleep there.

But I managed to overcome that situation ”, he expressed in another conversation with USA Swimming in which he said that he was dedicated to the sale of real estate and had hired a lawyer to claim his rights to see his children.

The shadow of fame

As a top-level sporting discipline, swimming is renowned for its rigor and discipline, demanding territory in which Keller was remembered as a fellow joker who strove to please his teammates.

At 1.95 meters tall, Keller is described as an imposing and personable man, but during his career he could lose his physical form almost as fast as he could swim, and he often put on weight after competitions.

So he put his metabolism in constant flux as he prepared for big commitments like the Olympics.

 [The FBI and the police continue to search for the robbers of the Capitol even though they brag about their crime in the media and social networks]

In the months leading up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, for example, he

suffered a period of insomnia and malaise that culminated in what Jon Urbanchek, his coach at the time, described as an emotional breakdown

.

For much of the past year, Keller, who lives in Colorado, repeatedly voiced his support for Donald Trump on his social media accounts.

According to friends,

in November he traveled to Washington to attend an electoral protest and a pro-Trump rally

called the Million MAGA March.

That day he made a post on Facebook posing in the streets of Washington, and ranted about the "blatant assault on our republic and our way of life."

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However, many of his friends have told the media that they cannot believe that he ended up participating in the assault on the Capitol.

In the video posted on the networks, he is seen in the legislative headquarters, with a bearded face, without a mask and wearing a US Olympic team jacket.

He now runs the risk of a 15 and a half year prison sentence, if convicted of the charges against him.

Acting US Attorney in Washington Mike Sherwin said last week that 55 people related to the riots have been charged with various crimes including trespassing, assault and robbery, among others.

With information from AP, NBC News and The New York Times

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-01-23

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