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Former Olympic swimming gold medalist Klete Keller was hit with federal charges Wednesday for his role in last week’s US Capitol riot, according to new court papers.
A criminal complaint filed Washington D.C. federal court charges Keller, 38, with obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The two-time gold medal winner was allegedly spotted in a video from inside the Capitol Rotunda posted last Wednesday by a reporter for the conservative news outlet Townhall.
The FBI confirmed reporting from swimming website SwimSwam that identified Keller as a bearded man seen in the clip wearing a Team USA Olympic jacket, the complaint states.
“PERSON 1 can be seen standing in the Rotunda still wearing the dark-colored USA jacket, which also appears to bear a Nike logo on the front right side and a red and white Olympic patch on the front left side,” an FBI agent wrote in court docs filed Wednesday.
The footage showed Keller — who stands at 6-feet-6-inches — towering over a mob of Trump supporters pushing against police officers who were trying to clear the area.
The former athlete’s social media accounts had been deleted as of this week, but he had previously posted about his support for President Trump, reports said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Keller, who lives in Colorado, was in custody on Wednesday or whether he had an attorney. He couldn’t be reached by The Post.
Keller won five medals for the US at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympics and was a former teammate of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee earlier Wednesday released a statement condemning an unnamed “alumni Olympic athlete” for being involved in “the horrific acts at the US Capitol building last week.”
“I strongly condemn the actions of the rioters at the US Capitol. They do not represent the values of the United States of America or of Team USA,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said in the statement.
“At home, and around the world, Team USA athletes are held to a very high standard as they represent our country on the field of play and off,” she said. “What happened in Washington, D.C., was a case where that standard was clearly not met.”
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