Former US swimmer Klete Keller, two-time Olympic relay champion, was identified among pro-Trump protesters who stormed into the US Capitol in Washington last week, multiple media reported on Tuesday.
The
New York Times
and
SwimSwam
, a swimming news site, claim Keller was among those who entered the building that serves as the seat of Congress, the United States' legislature, interrupting the scheduled session. confirm Joe Biden's presidential victory.
With an Olympic jacket among the rioters
A video posted by the conservative Townhall website shows footage of Keller wearing a US Olympic team jacket, inside the Capitol Rotunda, as police attempted to evacuate people from the area.
Several former teammates and coaches, on condition of anonymity, identified him with the aforementioned media.
Olympic gold medal swimmer Klete Keller has been identified in this video.
The athlete, who was spotted in this clip by former teammates, was wearing a US Olympic team jacket.
pic.twitter.com/SL1gUpSiih
- Dr. Comments-A-Lot (@WDCreports) January 13, 2021
No video has shown Keller acting in a violent manner, the
NY Times
claims
, but the mere fact of being there exposes him to federal charges of break and enter and disturbing the peace.
Klete Keller, second from the left, on the podium at the 2007 Worlds with the American 4x200m.
Aged 38, he won gold at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 with the American relay (4x200m), alongside Michael Phelps.
He also won silver in that same event in 2000 in Sydney and was an individual bronze medalist in the 400-meter freestyle at the 2000 and 2004 Games. According to the
NY Times
, Keller recently worked as a real estate agent in Colorado Springs, home of the US Olympic Committee.
Since the violence last Wednesday, which left five dead, including a police officer, around and inside the Capitol, the federal police have been trying to find all those who entered this place.
Many images circulated on social networks, often posted by the protesters themselves.
Seventy people have already been indicted, 170 suspects identified and the judicial authorities anticipate “hundreds” of indictments in the months to come, said Tuesday a senior official of the Department of Justice in Washington.
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