Klete Keller

Keller was born March 21, 1982, in Las Vegas to mother Karen and father Kelly. and graduated from Arcadia High School in Phoenix in 2000. Per Jon Urbanchek, who coached Keller in his later swimming career, "he had a rough time at home". Others have corroborated that Keller had a dysfunctional home life. Early swimming career At the 1998 Summer Nationals, Keller was named "Rookie of the Meet". Keller also competed in the 400-meter freestyle, placing fifth behind Chad Carvin, Erik Vendt, Uğur Taner, and Mark Warkentin. Keller won gold in the 5k open water race at the 1999 Phillips 66 National Championships with a time of 46:51, earning him a spot in the same event the 1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Sydney. In the 5k open water race at the 1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Keller won gold with a time of 55:42. Keller was also a member of the 1999 United States National Junior Team. ==Collegiate swimming 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, he won multiple individual and relay Pac-10 and NCAA Championships in the 200, 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle, as well as freestyle relays. He was a four-time NCAA champion. In both 2000 and 2001, Keller was named to the United States swimming "All-Star Team". Also in 2000, he won the summer national title in the 400 meter freestyle. In 2001, Keller won the spring national title in the 200 meter freestyle. Later that year at the World Aquatics Championships, Keller won an individual bronze medal in the 200 meter freestyle and a team bronze medal in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. ==Professional swimming career==

Keller left USC after his sophomore season, when he went professional, forfeiting his final two years of collegiate sports eligibility. Afterward, he trained until 2007 at Club Wolverine, run at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, under Jon Urbanchek and later Bob Bowman. Urbanchek was the coach of the three Olympic swimming teams on which Keller competed. In 2015, the Reno Gazette-Journal named Keller as the most decorated Olympian ever born in Nevada. In addition to the two times he made the team during his collegiate career, Keller, Keller was named to the United States Swimming "All-Star Team" four more times after going professional (in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006). At the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships, he won gold in the 200 meter freestyle and the 200 400 meter freestyle, as well as bronze in the 800 meter freestyle. He placed fifth in the 400 meter freestyle. He competed in the 200 meter freestyle, being eliminated after placing last in the semifinals. Also in 2003, Keller won the spring national title in the 400 meter freestyle. It was the first time Australia had been beaten in the event in over seven years. The American relay of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, and Keller were undefeated in competition from those Olympics onward. Vanderkaay, Larsen Jensen, Erik Vendt, and Keller made up the core of the premier American mid-distance/distance freestyle swimmers. Keller also won bronze in 400 meter freestyle. At the Olympics, Keller placed fourth in the 200 meter freestyle. Also in 2004, Keller was named to the United States swimming "All-Star Team". and the 50 meter freestyle (coming 32nd in the heats). In the same year, he won the 2006 summer national title in the 400 meter freestyle, won bronze at the United States National Championships in the 200 meter freestyle, and was named to the United States swimming "All-Star Team". He later said that ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had considered going to Arizona State University to study criminology. In the 2007 World Rankings, Keller was ranked 18th in the 400 meter freestyle, 49th in the 200 meter freestyle, and 78th in the 100 meter freestyle. At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia he was on the gold-winning team in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. He individually placed tenth in the 400 meter freestyle and 18th in the 200 meter freestyle. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Keller won gold in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. == Post-swimming career ==

Keller retired from swimming after the 2008 Summer Olympics. He initially held a series of jobs in sales and finance. From June 2011 through November 2012, he worked for Multi-Bank Securities in Southfield, Michigan west of Warren. He left the firm in February 2014. In 2018, Keller moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado south of Denver where he began a career as a real estate broker, being employed as an independent contractor with the real estate firm Hoff & Leigh. In 2021, when SwimSwam contacted them for their January 11 story reporting Keller's involvement in the storming of the Capitol, Hoff & Leigh confirmed that Keller was still an employee of the firm. == Participation in the 2021 United States Capitol attack ==

Keller was identified as a participant in the 2021 United States Capitol attack, where he was seen inside the Capitol rotunda in a crowd of people clashing with police officers. Keller's presence was reported by several people who saw a video posted by conservative outlet Townhall. Some of the people who recognized Keller in the video said that he had frequently posted pro-Trump content on his social-media accounts. Keller deleted his social-media accounts after being identified. He was recognized, in part, because of his height, the fact that he was wearing a U.S. Olympic team jacket, and that his face was unobstructed in the video. On January 13, 2021, for his involvement in the storming of the Capitol, the FBI charged Keller with obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties, unlawfully entering Capitol grounds, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. For those charges, he originally faced up to 15.5 years in prison. He surrendered himself the next day and federal agents executed a search and seizure warrant on his home. Keller was released from custody the same day on a personal recognizance bond. A grand jury would decide whether more serious charges were warranted. On February 10, the grand jury indicted Keller on seven charges, including civil disorder, obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. The charges had a maximum sentence of nearly 30 years. On March 9, 2021, Keller pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including civil disorder and witness tampering. On September 29, 2021, as part of a plea bargain, Keller pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding before Congress. He also pledged to cooperate with any continuing investigation into the attack. The felony carried a maximum potential sentence of 20 years. In his guilty plea, he admitted to spending roughly an hour in the United States Capitol building. He admitted that, in the Capitol Rotunda, he shouted "Fuck Nancy Pelosi!" and "Fuck Chuck Schumer!", captured video and photographs, and "jerked his elbow" to avoid law enforcement officers that were trying to eject him from the building. In December 2022, Keller was free on bond pending his sentencing. He faced 21 to 27 months in prison and sentencing was set for July 7, 2023. On June 15, 2023, Keller requested a postponement of his sentencing hearing so he could "further facilitate" his cooperation with the ongoing investigation into the Capitol attack. Sentencing was postponed until December 1, 2023. On November 17, the U.S. government requested a 10-month sentence for Keller, shorter than the guideline of 21–27 months in similar cases. On December 4, 2023, Keller received a sentence of six months home detention and three years probation. On January 20, 2025, Keller received a full pardon by President Donald Trump. ==Personal life==

Ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics, Keller reportedly suffered a period of insomnia and malaise, which resulted in an "emotional breakdown". They married and had three children. He also said that, for four years, he lacked visitation rights with his children, making it unable to see them, despite living only minutes away from them. In the same interview, Keller said that he had failed to find similar successes in his endeavors after retiring from swimming. He said that he made the mistake of not having the foresight to plan for his post-swimming career, and felt somewhat "bitter" both towards himself and his sport. After his participation in the storming of the United States Capitol, friends of Keller's described him as a strong political conservative and a gun enthusiast, who had expressed increasingly strong support for Donald Trump on his social media in the previous years, particularly in the year immediately prior. After Keller's participation in the storming of the capitol, his ex-wife, then known as Cari Carr Sherrill, ==See also==