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New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
The Ingebrigtsen trial: ‘I became too much of a coach – the coach was not necessarily a kind man'
In a case involving a double Olympic champion and his sister making serious accusations of long-term abuse against their father and former coach, perhaps it was always going to conclude with 'no winners'. That was how Gjert Ingebrigtsen's defence lawyers, John Christian Elden and Heidi Reisvang, described it after their client was acquitted of abuse charges against one of his sons, the track and field star Jakob, and his daughter, Ingrid. Advertisement Gjert must, however, pay 10,000 NOK compensation (£742; $1,011) and has been given a suspended 15-day sentence after being found guilty of one count of assault against Ingrid; after an incident in January 2022 in which he is said to have whipped his daughter, now 18, with a towel after an argument. 'By then, I had felt trapped in my own home for so long, and so much time had passed,' Ingrid told the court. Abuse in close relationships is punishable by a maximum six-year sentence in Norway and the prosecution had pushed for two-and-a-half years in prison for Gjert, who was alleged to have abused both Jakob and Ingrid, two of his seven children — claims he strenuously denied. It was said in court that Jakob had recalled '200 to 300 incidents' between 2008 and 2018 where he was 'verbally abused' by his father and the athlete testified that his 'upbringing was largely shaped by fear'. Gjert, 51, labelled him a 'privileged boy' who has been carried by his parents on a 'golden throne', and ultimately the court found in favour of the father, saying in a statement Jakob and his siblings' evidence was 'credible' but it found 'reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt'. Jakob, who was coached by Gjert until early 2022 and won Olympic 1,500m gold with him in 2021, testified for one and a half days in March at the Sor-Rogaland District Court in the family's hometown in Sandnes, Norway. So too did his younger sister Ingrid, during a trial which lasted almost two months. The dynamics of this high-achieving family were already familiar around the world owing to the Team Ingebrigtsen docuseries, which followed the family for five years between 2016 and 2021, capturing the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics where Jakob won gold. It also included the 2018 European Championships, where Jakob won double gold over 5,000m and 1,500m, beating two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, in the 1,500m final. But now the Ingebrigtsens' lives have been dissected in the most public way imaginable: in open court. All seven siblings — Kristoffer, Henrik, Filip, Martin, Jakob, Ingrid and William (in descending age order) — were, as Mette Yvonne Larsen, the lawyer for Jakob and Ingrid, put it, 'more than just witnesses'. Advertisement The Ingebrigtsen siblings had pushed for the trial to be in public while Gjert wanted it to happen behind closed doors. Tone Ingebrigtsen, Gjert's wife for nearly 40 years and mother to the seven siblings, only testified, however, after being granted 'special circumstances' to do so in private, on the basis that her evidence was seen as pivotal. In total, more than 40 witnesses were called, including the other five siblings, extended family members, athletes and other relevant individuals. It took only a month for Gjert to be acquitted of all of the abuse charges after his lawyers said the court did not find sufficient evidence that he had 'acted in a manner that constitutes abuse'. The two sides' explanations, it was said by the defence lawyers, were found by the court to 'appear equally plausible'. Larsen said in a statement that 'the court has believed much of what they described about violence, believed the evidence supported the charges in the indictment — and that we were able to present sufficient proof — but concluded that the threshold for domestic abuse has not been met.' 'It's a very brief verdict, so one might wonder why it took so long,' she added. 'Jakob finds it very strange,' Larsen said. 'You describe violence, you're believed, and yet he (Gjert) isn't convicted.' Elden and Reisvang said that the 'decisive factor' in the verdict 'was that there was no evidence that Gjert created a continuous fear in his children.' They added in a statement: 'The court emphasised that several close family members and outside witnesses have not seen or experienced abuse.' In court, Gjert had described his background and upbringing and offered these as explanations for why 'over time, the coach replaced the father. I became too much of a coach — the coach was not necessarily a kind man.' Advertisement He accepted this was 'foolish, but I couldn't stop myself, and no one else stopped it either'. On Monday, after the verdict was published, Jakob posted a picture on Instagram of himself with his wife Elisabeth and their daughter Filippa, in which he said the main goal of his life, and the one he cares most about, 'is that Filippa will love and respect me for her upbringing'. 'I will give her space if space is what she asks for,' he added. 'And I will love and respect her unconditionally.' In 2022, Jakob, Henrik and Filip split from Gjert as a coach, following the assault on their sister Ingrid for which he was convicted more than three years later. 'The break with Gjert in January 2022 has been the most important thing for Jakob,' said Larsen. 'He was never focused on pressing charges or seeing his father go to prison; he just wanted to be free of the regime he had lived under. The wounds are there, and it will take time to heal.' Both Jakob and Ingrid called Gjert 'the defendant' and not their dad during their testimonies, and Larsen noted on Monday that 'if Jakob were still living under that regime, receiving a verdict like this would have been much harder'. The 24-year-old, who has 5,000m and 1,500m Olympic golds plus four world titles and four current world records, said during his testimony that, although his 'upbringing was a bit special' — because he had two older, professional running brothers to learn from and train with — he felt 'like I was clearly a victim of manipulation'. 'I've become a machine that performs when asked; an athlete who performs really well under pressure and in inhuman conditions,' Jakob testified. 'But that's because I've had a lot of practice. I had to do it to survive as a teenager. 'I can't say that nothing I've done has meant anything, but at the same time, it has come with an enormous downside. I have lost a lot and sacrificed many things. I definitely don't have the same joy for the sport that I wished for when I was 11 or 12.' Advertisement Jakob wrote an op-ed in the Norwegian newspaper VG, which was published on May 15, just after the trial concluded. 'The court proceedings have had major and upsetting consequences, regardless of what the verdict will be,' he said. 'We have known this all along, yet it was important to tell our story. I feel a great relief now that I no longer have to hide anything — it has brought my siblings and my new family closer together.' The Norwegian Athletics Federation has told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that it will not change its position in denying Gjert, who still coaches elite runners, to be granted accreditation to Olympics or the World Championships. The initial decision was taken after Henrik, Filip and Jakob published an op-ed in VG in October 2023 in which they described their father as 'aggressive, controlling and violent'. The charges were first brought against Gjert late last year — the case pertaining to Jakob was initially closed before being reinstated on appeal — and he has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing. But Gjert still coaches Narve Gilje Nordas, who is the second-best all-time middle-distance Norwegian runner after Jakob, with his elder brothers Henrik and Filip third and fourth on the 1,500m and mile lists. Nordas and fellow middle-distance runner Per Svela will still be coached by Gjert after this verdict. 'In the main, he is acquitted,' Nordas told the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. 'It is an incident (the conviction of assault of Ingrid) he acknowledged and apologised to me (for) three years ago.' Ingrid, the only girl among the Ingebrigtsen siblings, quit athletics aged 15, in the autumn of 2021, just after Jakob won Olympic 1,500m gold. Ingrid and Jakob's lawyer, Larsen, warned that Ingrid was 'very afraid' of giving evidence against her father and had a breakdown on the first day of the trial. 'She was dreading seeing Gjert,' the attorney said. Photographers were also banned from taking pictures of Ingrid arriving at court, and there was a reporting ban on specific parts of her testimony. Advertisement She told the court she has had three anxiety attacks — 'they bring back feelings that remind me of past experiences' — and has problems falling asleep as well as nightmares. Ingrid said an argument had started in January 2022 because she wanted to go out, and Gjert refused to let her. She told the court: 'He (Gjert) shoved his finger right up in my face, yelling. This had happened before. I had spent so many months being pushed down and ignored — I felt completely bullied. 'So I pushed his finger away. I still don't understand how I dared to do that. But I think I was just fed up and angry.' Gjert, Ingrid said, had a small towel in his hand because he had been exercising downstairs. 'He whipped the towel toward me,' she said. 'The first time he missed. Then he did it again, aiming for my face on purpose. This time, he hit. Right on my cheek.' Gjert testified that he did not strike Ingrid in the face as she claimed, but used it to 'tap her finger twice in succession'. 'Nothing else was possible,' he added, saying it was 'practically difficult' for him to have hit her like that because he was holding the 'relatively small towel' in his right hand and the mark was on her right cheek. 'It quickly became clear to me that my reaction was excessive, and not at all how I intend to behave,' he recounted. Ingrid ran out of the house to where her elder brother Henrik and his wife Liva lived nearby. Liva took a photo of her face — which was shown as evidence in court — and called Henrik, Jakob and Filip, who were all at a training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain. The siblings did not file a police report at the time of the assault, despite Ingrid wanting to, with Jakob testifying that 'we didn't know what to do or what was best'. They contacted child welfare as 'a cry for help,' he said, but things were complicated by him, Henrik and Filip being public figures by that stage. Ingrid went to live with her elder brother Kristoffer for a few weeks before moving into voluntary foster care. The prosecution has until Monday, June 30, to appeal. State prosecutor Angjerd Kvernenes said, 'We will use that time to review the verdict thoroughly, read it carefully, and familiarise ourselves with the court's reasoning.' If they appeal, it may not go to the Court of Appeal. Instead, a committee will decide whether it proceeds or not, and, if approved, it would likely be scheduled for early 2026. Again, there can surely be no winners.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
The trial that has gripped Norway like a soap opera has ripped apart track and field's most famous family
The moment that ripped apart track and field's most successful and eccentric family came in January 2022, after the 15-year-old sister of the Tokyo Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen was grounded by her father after school. At that point, Jakob and his brothers Filip and Henrik, were all European, world or Olympic champions, having trained like professionals since before they were teenagers. They were also major TV stars in Norway thanks to the docu-series Team Ingebrigtsen, where they appeared alongside their coach and father Gjert. Gjert, whose manner could make an army drill sergeant sound touchy-feely, outlined his philosophy early in series one. 'I don't want to be an angry man, I want to be a father,' he said. 'But if being an angry man brings them their dreams I will tolerate what I am missing.' But on that day in 2022, Gjert's anger went too far. It led to him striking his daughter with a wet towel, his sons to ditch and denounce him, and to a courthouse in Sagnes, Norway where he stood trial for physically and mentally abusing Jakob and Ingrid. Amid tense scenes in court in March this year, Gjert explained what he felt had happened. 'She's really angry and says: 'I fucking don't want to be in this prison of yours any more,' while holding her index finger at me. 'I pull the towel against her finger twice in quick succession. She then says: 'What the hell are you doing, are you hitting me?' To which I reply: 'I didn't hit you.' Ingrid's testimony, though, told a different story. 'I had been so depressed and ignored for several months, I simply felt bullied,' she said. 'I pushed his finger away. He had a small towel that he had been sweating in, so it was wet. He whipped it at my face. First once without hitting. Then he did it once more, and then he hit me on the cheek.' After a month of deliberations, the court issued its 31-page verdict on Monday. And when it came to the wet-towel incident it was unequivocal. 'There is no doubt that the defendant acted intentionally.' The court noted that Ingrid had fled to her brother Henrik's home. And that Henrik's wife, Livia, had taken a photograph of a red mark across Ingrid's face. 'Ingrid's explanation is significantly strengthened by other evidence,' the court said. 'She left the house and moved out. The defendant, in turn, sent her a message the next day in which he strongly regretted the incident, emphasising that he needed help and that he wanted to see a doctor and psychologist. 'The court therefore assumes as proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant hit Ingrid in the face with a blow with a small and damp towel.' As a result of his actions, Gjert received a 15-day suspended sentence and was ordered to pay his daughter £744. Yet when the verdict was announced on Monday his reaction was one of 'relief', according to his attorney, Heidi Reisvang. Why? Because when it came to every other allegation against him, the prosecution was unable to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The court accepted that Jakob and Ingrid's evidence had often been 'credible'. However it said that in many instances it was impossible to know the truth when Gjert, his wife Tone, or one brother, Martin, had one view of an incident – while Jakob, Ingrid and the other siblings had another. Jakob, for instance, had told the court that he had been punched 'many times' by his father when he was eight, after receiving a negative report about his behaviour from school. The incident was confirmed by Filip, who was said to have observed it from an adjacent room. However Martin said that his father had only grabbed Jakob and held him against the wall while he yelled. According to the ruling, memories could have been distorted by time – and antipathy. Some of the allegations, though, were dismissed by the court. It ruled that Jakob's claims to have been knocked off his scooter and kicked in the stomach by his father in front of witnesses were 'incomprehensible', suggesting that someone would have surely reacted to a little boy being attacked. It also dismissed prosecutors' claims that the Ingebrigtsen household had been 'characterised by continuous insecurity and fear of violence' between 2008 and 2018. While it acknowledged Gjert was sometimes angry, it said it was 'difficult to reconcile' the allegation with testimony from family friends, athletes and TV crews. The court also pointed to a heated 30-minute argument between Gjert and Jakob at a training camp in St Moritz in 2019, which was recorded by Henrik without his father's consent and later played in court, as evidence that Jakob was no shrinking violet. The judges described it as 'loud and rather pointless', but added: 'It must be emphasised that Jakob shows no sign of fear or submission towards the defendant. He stands his ground and retaliates against the defendant's verbal abuse.' So what might happen now? Speaking after the verdict, Reisvang held out hope that this great schism could be mended. 'As Gjert said during the trial, he wants to reconcile with his family, and he hopes that he will have a relationship with them at some point,' she said. 'That hasn't changed.' Jakob's reaction to the ruling came only via an Instagram post of a picture of his daughter, Filippa, which appeared to suggest hell might freeze over first. 'I will always be there for her if she needs a hug,' he wrote. 'I will cheer for her, whatever choice she makes (except if she steals my 911 GT3 RS). I will give her space if space is what she asks for. And I will love and respect her unconditionally (even if she steals my 911 GT3 RS)!' It was a promise that was touching and pointed. But while it spoke of looking to the future, you suspect there are scars here that will never disappear.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Jakob Ingebrigtsen's father convicted of assault but avoids jail
The father of Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been convicted of assaulting his daughter but acquitted of abusing the double Olympic champion. After a seven-week trial, which included conflicting statements from multiple family members, a court in their hometown of Sandnes found that Gjert Ingebrigtsen did hit Ingrid with a wet towel but that there was reasonable doubt over accusations that he abused Jakob. Gjert, who had coached Jakob, as well as his brothers Henrik and Filip to major international success over 1500 metres and 5,000m, has been fined 10,000 krone (£744) and received a suspended 15-day jail sentence for the assault on Ingrid. The court was shown a photograph of Ingrid with a red mark on her face. Judges in the case did not find, as was alleged by Ingrid and the three brothers, that he had overseen a family environment that was characterised by fear and violence. Gjert Ingebrgtsen had denied the charges and his lawyer, John Christian Elden, said that he was 'relieved' by the court's verdict. 'This case has no winners, and today's verdict shows that all those affected have been exposed to an enormous burden that should have been avoided,' said Elden. Jakob's legal aid lawyer Mette Yvonne Larsen said that the 24-year-old Olympic, world and European champion was now 'concerned with moving on' after starting 'a new life in January 2022, when he broke with his father and broke with the regime he has experienced'. The verdict states: 'The court considers one side's version of family life and the relationship between the defendant and Jakob is not particularly more likely than the other.' They also highlighted how another brother, Martin, had spoken in defence of his father. 'The significant difference is that he describes it as a safe and good home without violence or threats, despite the fact that the defendant could be quarrelsome, loud and argumentative,' said the court. 'The court cannot disregard his explanation. His explanation is difficult to reconcile with the prosecution's claim that Jakob was subjected to violence… or abuse throughout much of his childhood.' Jakob had alleged that he was abused both physically and mentally from 2008 until 2018. The prosecutor had requested a prison sentence of more than two-and-a-half years. A total of Nkr400,000 (£29,800) in compensation was also suggested for the two siblings. Ingrid Ingebrigtsen, 19, has not lived at home since the towel incident in January 2022. The three brothers split from being coached by Gjert shortly after the incident before writing a newspaper article in 2023 which alleged that they had been subjected to physical violence. Gjert, who has always denied criminal behaviour, has continued to coach Jakob's Norway team-mates Narve Gilje Nordas and Per Svela. Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics before following that up with 5,000m gold in Paris last year. He also won the 1500m and 3,000m double at both the European and World Indoor Championships earlier this year but the start of his outdoor track season has been delayed by an Achilles tendon injury.
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Washington Post
Jakob Ingebrigtsen's father convicted of assaulting daughter and acquitted of other abuse charges
SANDNES, Norway — Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the father of Norwegian track star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, was convicted Monday of assaulting his daughter and handed a suspended prison sentence. A court acquitted Gjert of other charges including abusing Jakob, a multiple Olympic and world middle-distance champion. In a trial that started in March and has gripped Norway, Gjert, 59, was accused of an alleged years-long campaign of domestic abuse toward Jakob and younger sister, Ingrid.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Jakob Ingebrigtsen's dad convicted of assaulting his daughter but acquitted of abusing Olympic star
JAKOB INGEBRIGTSEN's father has been cleared of abusing the Olympic gold medallist, although he's been FOUND GUILTY of assaulting his daughter, Ingrid. Norwegian athletics star Ingebrigtsen accused his father and former trainer, Gjert, of years of physical and psychological violence throughout his childhood. 6 6 6 6 But a court has deemed there to be insufficient evidence to convict Gjert of the allegations made by his youngest son. The court did, however, find Gjert guilty of hitting his daughter Ingrid with a towel during a heated row about her going out with friends back in 2022. The court said there wasn't any serious indication of the fear Jakob alleged Gert instilled in a TV documentary following the family. It also deemed a recording of an argument between the pair at St Moritz training camp in 2019 as insufficient evidence to prove Jakob's claims. The verdict read: "Jakob shows no signs of fear or submission in relation to the defendant. "He stands his ground and retaliates against the defendant's verbal abuse. "Violence in close relationships can occur in secret and remain hidden from the outside world. "However, the explanations and recordings reviewed in the preceding paragraphs are difficult to reconcile with the prosecution's claim that the defendant subjected Jakob to continuous and repeated abuse throughout the period from 2008 to 2018. 6 6 "Even though Jakob and his brothers and spouses have given credible statements, the total weight of the statements and other evidence reviewed means that the court must conclude that there is reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt." Gert was responsible for the successful training regimes of his sons, Jakob, Henrik and Filip. I was a reality TV star dubbed the 'cardio Kim Kardashian' - now I'm making my own way and targeting Olympic gold Henrik and Filip tasted European glory, while Jakob, who cut coaching ties with his old man in 2022, won 1500m and 5000m at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, respectively. In October 2023, the brothers bravely penned an article detailing alleged abuse from Gjert, who they accused of "using physical violence and threats as part of their upbringing." Gjert, who admitted he had a "traditional and patriarchal" parenting style, vehemently denied the allegations. His lawyer, John Christian Elden, said: "This case has no winners.
