Photo: Reuters
Following the violent protest – will the Olympic swimmer’s sporting achievements be denied him? In the United States, conclusions are still being drawn following the violent incidents that took place last week in the capital, Washington, when the debate in the US Congress that was supposed to approve the election of incoming president Joe Biden was stopped due to the outburst of supporters of outgoing president Trump.
The protesters interrupted the crucial session of the US Congress and instead riots broke out that resulted in the deaths of four people and the injury of many more.
A week later and in the United States trying to figure out who were the ones behind the violent incident.
Today (Wednesday) it was revealed that among all those burglars is also none other than Clyte Keller, a former United States swimming team swimmer and Olympic medalist.
The 38-year-old Keller was caught filming from the violent incidents wearing a jacket from the United States swimming team and citizens who identified him reported it to law enforcement who opened an investigation on suspicion of damaging federal property.
The New York Times claimed that Keller did not hide his support for outgoing President Trump, when it repeatedly expressed his sympathy for the outgoing president on social media.
During his sporting career, Keller won five Olympic medals when he was considered one of the top swimmers in the United States and was a partner in the historic team led by Michael Phelps, who is considered the best swimmer in the world. In all, Keller won five Olympic medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Two of the medals were gold medals.
Following the identification of Keller as a partner in the violent events, many citizens appealed to the American Olympic Committee to remove his name from the Hall of Fame of Olympic medalists as well as deprive him of any sporting achievement he had won for the country.