Olympic Gold Medalist Klete Keller Charged in Capitol Attack

An Olympic gold medal swimmer faces three federal charges after being filmed at the Capitol siege last week.

Klete Keller, who competed at the Summer Olympics in 2000, 2004 and 2008, was charged with obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to documents.

It is unclear if Keller has been taken into custody at this time.

In a viral video of the horrifying events unfolding inside the building’s Rotunda, a man identified as Keller is seen standing in the middle of the vicious mob.

Several of his former teammates and coaches identified the 6-foot-6 athlete by his stature and the fact he was wearing a “Team USA” jacket, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post.

An F.B.I. agent claimed additional videos aided in confirming Keller’s presence at the siege as well, per The Times. His Colorado driver’s license also was used to identify him.

Keller was first reported as participating in the attacks by swimming website SwimSwam on Monday.

Later that day, a spokesperson for USA Swimming released a statement, saying, “We were not aware of this and cannot confirm its accuracy. We respect private individuals’ and groups’ rights to peacefully protest but in no way condone the actions taken by those at the Capitol last week.”

During his Olympic games tenure, Keller won five medals, including two gold medals for the 800 meter Free Relay with teammates Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay.

After the Olympics, Keller appeared to fall on hard times, including a divorce in 2014, living out of his van for 10 months and losing his job.

“All those years of success I had with swimming really gave me an inaccurate expectation of the world, and so it was all the much harder to cope with all of the mini-failures I would experience on any given day,” he said on an Olympic Channel podcast. “Everything kind of started spiraling out of control. I think I became a real lazy, spoiled, entitled person because I didn’t have the coping skills.”

According to SwimSwam, Keller often posted pro-Trump messages on his social media accounts, which have now been deleted.

On Tuesday, his employer for the last three years, commercial real estate firm Hoff & Leigh, announced Keller had resigned.

“Hoff & Leigh supports the right of free speech and lawful protest,” the statement also read. “But we cannot condone actions that violate the rule of law.”