He was once among the most successful athletic coaches in the world, seeking and securing both fame and fortune for three of his talented sons and himself. Now Gjert Ingebrigtsen has been portrayed in a Norwegian court as a tyrant and abusive father, taking the shine off his family’s many gold medals and championships.
One thing is clear: The defendant and his alleged victims disagree just as much now as they did when the trial began in late March and is due to end next week. Relations are also just as cold, if not frozen, especially after Gjert’s wife and the mother of their unhappy offspring finally gave her version of family relations but not publicly. Tone Eva Ingebrigtsen, described by some of her offspring as usually appearing detached from the drama around her, refused to allow any media or those directly involved to hear her testimony, which was controversially allowed to be given behind closed doors.
She claimed she was caught “between those I love.” She also claimed her family had suffered from “lots of negative attention in the media during the past three years,” even though the family had actively nurtured media attention for years and her children voiced no complaints over the coverage. Her son Jakob, who’s won the most medals in the family and also has allegedly suffered the most abuse, had flown home to Norway from an important training session abroad to hear his mother’s testimony, but was banished from the courtroom south of Stavanger like everyone else.
The Ingebrigtsen family feud began making headlines three years ago, when Gjert Ingebrigtsen suddenly went on sick leave and his sons Henrik, Filip and Jakob said they’d handle their training themselves. They also published a letter in national newspaper VG in which they complained about their father, who had gone on to train a rival runner, Narve Gilje Nordås, who has since gone his own way, too.
The bottom line in the family feud has always been Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s rough style, his yelling and constant criticism, also when his sons won everything from Olympic gold to World Championships. He never seemed satisfied. The public could be eye-witnesses to his demands in a Norwegian TV series called Team Ingebrigtsen, that followed the family at home and away and during harsh training sessions. Jakob has since testifed that he at least felt safer when the camera crew was around them, allegedly prompting his father to restrain himself. Other sons claim reality was worse than the show portrayed.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen was ultimately charged by public prosecutors with offenses including both physical and psychological violence against his son Jakob and his daughter Ingrid, now age 18. He’s accused of making threats, resorting to physical and verbal violence and even restricting his daughter’s movements after allegedly slapping her with a wet towel or forcing her to keep exercising as punishment even when she claimed she could barely breathe after she’d forgotten her asthma medicine.
He denies all the charges against him, with his defense lawyer now stressing that the Ingebrigtsens were no ordinary family. They were, rather, a family with a father who was a coach and sons who were winners because of strict training regimes. Gjert admitted in court recently that his role as coach replaced his role as father over time, and that “my form of communication wasn’t always nice.” He claims he was not abusive, however, just very demanding.
Prosecutors counter that “this case is about how much a father has mishandled a son and a daughter” over a period of many years. The seven now-mostly adult Ingebrigtsen children have given varying accounts in court of life with their father: While Henrik, Filip, Jakob, Ingrid and Kristoffer have described a high-conflict home, another son Martin defended their father. He described him as controlling, but claimed the family home was characterized by security and a sense of togetherness.
The trial was due to end just before Norway’s Constitution Day celebrations next week on the 17th of May, with Gjert Ingebrigtsen facing a possible prison term if found guilty of the charges against him.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund