The daddy and former coach of Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been charged with abusing one among his different youngsters, police mentioned Monday, escalating an ongoing battle involving one among Norway’s most distinguished sporting households.
Ingebrigtsen gained the 1,500-metre race on the Tokyo Olympics and has emerged as one among Europe’s largest track-and-field stars after being coached since childhood by his father Gjert Ingebrigtsen. However he and two of his brothers — who’re additionally top-level runners — beforehand accused their father of utilizing “bodily violence and threats as a part of our upbringing.”
Norwegian police launched an investigation into Gjert Ingebrigtsen after that, and on Monday charged him with having bodily and mentally abused one other of his youthful youngsters. The indictment, which has been seen by The Related Press, mentioned the alleged abuse happened between 2018 and early 2022 and included threats, coercion and hitting his youngster within the face with a towel on at the least one event.
If discovered responsible, Gjert Ingebrigtsen faces as much as six years in jail. No date for a trial has been set.
The top of police in southeastern Norway advised The Related Press that instances involving 5 different alleged victims had been dismissed “on the idea of the proof” and in a single case due to a statute of limitations.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s lawyer John Christian Elden mentioned his 58-year-old consumer “disagrees with the presentation of the occasions” and “consequently doesn’t admit prison guilt.”
‘Very aggressive and controlling’
Gjert Ingebrigtsen was named the Norwegian sports activities coach of the 12 months in 2018 after Jakob, Henrik and Filip all gained medals at main occasions that 12 months. The household had additionally been the topic of a TV documentary sequence, “Staff Ingebregtsen,” that was aired by public broadcaster NRK for 5 season between 2016-21 main as much as the Tokyo Olympics.
However on Oct. 19 final 12 months, the three brothers printed an op-ed in Norwegian newspaper VG detailing their father’s behaviour and mentioned he “had been very aggressive and controlling” and violent and abusive throughout their childhoods.
They mentioned “the identical aggression and bodily punishment struck once more” two years in the past towards another person, and that was “the straw that broke the camel’s again.”
The three brothers broke ties with their father and Gjert Ingebrigtsen has since began teaching one other Norwegian runner, Narve Gilje Nordås. Nevertheless, the pinnacle of the group that oversees Olympic sports activities in Norway mentioned Ingebrigtsen wouldn’t be allowed to be a part of the Norwegian employees on the Paris Video games this summer season. He was additionally denied an accreditation for the 2023 world championships in Budapest, the place Jakob gained gold within the 5,000.
