Jakob Ingebrigtsen has told a court that he was physically and mentally abused by his father, including being repeatedly hit in the head when he was a child.
Less than 48 hours after sealing a double of world 1500 metres and 3,000m athletics titles in China, Ingebrigtsen appeared at court in his home town of Sandnes in Norway on Tuesday to give evidence in the trial of his father and former coach.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen is accused of physically and mentally abusing Jakob and his younger sister, Ingrid. He denies the charges.
Jakob told the court that his upbringing had been characterised by fear, control and manipulation. “As a teenager, I felt I had no free will or say in anything,” he said, according to the court report by the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.
The multiple Olympic, world and European champion, also detailed a series of specific allegations of violence. In one, when he was around eight years old, he had reportedly received a report from school about negative behaviour. He said that he was struck in the head “between 10 and 20 times” by Gjert while being accused of lying.
Jakob said that he had been holding up his hands to protect himself but that his father took them down before continuing to hit him. He described the blows as being of medium force with a flat hand.
The 24-year-old also recalled being hit by Gjert when they were late for an athletics meeting as well as being kicked in the stomach when he fell off his scooter.
Three brothers allege rule of fear
Gjert also trained Jakob’s older brothers, Henrik and Filip, to the level of European champions over 1500m but, after splitting with their father as a coach in 2022, the three brothers issued a joint statement in which they accused him of being “very aggressive and controlling” and experiencing ongoing fear.
Jakob, who described Gjert as “the defendant” during his court testimony, said that he stopped calling him “Dad” when he was about 11. According to NRK, he said that there was significant fear while growing up of what might happen when Gjert came home from work.
“I feel like I’ve been in a situation where I haven’t been able to decide on my own life,” Jakob said. “Everything has been very determined and strict and controlled. I always went completely cold after being subjected to violence. I tried to figure out how I could avoid such situations again, but it was difficult because everything was so unpredictable.”
Jakob told the court that adolescence was a particularly difficult period and that his father had tried to disrupt his relationship with Elisabeth Asserson, who is now his wife, after they began dating aged 16.
“The defendant called Elisabeth and me terrorists,” he said. “He believed that we were terrorising him... by suggesting that we move down to the basement apartment. Adolescence was the worst. It was clear that something was happening to the defendant then, an uncertainty about me getting older, and a feeling that he was losing control.”
Gjert’s defence attorney, John Christian Elden, spoke to NRK as he left the courthouse. “It has been a difficult day for Gjert Ingebrigtsen,” he said. “He is aware that this has been his son’s perception of reality, while he himself has a completely different one.
“He does not recognise himself in the descriptions of the words that are associated with the word violence. He recognises himself in descriptions that indicate that he has made demands and that there has been a competitive instinct. The rest of this he will explain himself on Monday.”
No ordinary upbringing
Another defence attorney, Heidi Reisvang, had referred to the children’s ambitions on Monday, saying that it was not an ordinary family with ordinary frameworks but with a father-coach and sons at the top of the world.
Mette Yvonne Larsen, who represents Jakob and his sister, had said that it was not about Jakob the sports star but the child and young adult, and what he experienced from his father.
More than 30 witnesses have been called to the trial, including all seven of Gjert’s children, Jakob’s mother Tone, fellow runners Per Svela and Narve Gilje Nordas – who are still trained by Gjert – and various figures at the Norwegian Athletics Federation.
Other witnesses include one of the creators of the hit TV series, Team Ingebrigtsen, which documented the family’s life between 2016 and 2021, when Jakob went from child prodigy to Olympic champion.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison, with the trial scheduled to continue until May 16. Gjert, who is due to give evidence on Monday, has pleaded not guilty and denies any criminal wrongdoing.
