Keller was a member of the USA swim team for three of the Olympic games from 2000 to 2008, during which he won five medals. He earned two gold medals when he participated in the 800 meter free relay with teammates Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 2004 relay has since been named the Race of the Century.
Following his time on the Olympic team, Keller faced adversity in his personal life, having divorced his wife in 2014.
In 2018, he told USA Swimming that he struggled to pay child support and lived out of his Ford Fusion, explaining, “I didn’t know where to go, because I didn’t really have anywhere to go, so I just traveled to see the most important people in my life, looking for advice and direction.”
“Within a matter of a few years, I went from Olympic gold medalist to husband, homeowner, guy with a series of sales jobs—life insurance, software, medical devices, financial products—and father of three, and I had a really difficult time accepting who I was without swimming in my life,” he told the organization at the time. “Swimmer had been my identity for most of my life, and then I quickly transitioned to other roles and never gave myself time to get comfortable with them. I really struggled with things. I didn’t enjoy my work, and that unhappiness and lack of identity started creeping into my marriage.”
