My upbringing was characterised by fear – Ingebrigtsen

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the double Olympic champion, claimed that his father, Gjert, had “manipulated” and “controlled” him throughout his development on Tuesday in front of a court.

Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 59, is accused of physically and mentally abusing his 24-year-old son Jakob and another of his children in Norway.

Former coach Gjert for his son, who denies the allegations.

According to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, “my upbringing was very much characterised by fear,” he said in a court hearing in Sandnes Jakob.

“Everything was decided by me,” he said. There was a lot of manipulation.

Jakob, who won 1500m gold at Tokyo 2020 and 5, 000m gold at Paris 2024, gave an in-depth account of a number of alleged abuses at the hearing on Tuesday.

He claimed that he was forced to train two or three times a day as a teenager and that he was a schoolboy who was unable to attend parties.

Jakob also referred to a number of instances in which his father assaulted him.

Jakob was eight years old when he received a negative report about his behavior at school, and it is claimed that Gjert repeatedly struck him.

He added that his father punched Jakob in the face because he was late for a race in 2008, making it eight years old. He claims that his father punched him in the stomach after he fell off a scooter a year later.

He referred to another alleged incident from 2016 at a junior championships where his father threatened him and another one where Gjert was said to have allegedly thrown his video game console out of the window.

Jakob, 24, and his brothers Filip, 31, and Henrik, 34, both Olympic athletes, made public accusations that their father, who coached them until 2022, had been violent in October 2023.

The trio, who are one of seven Ingebrigtsen children, stated at the time that they still feel uneasy and afraid about Gjert, who they claimed was “very aggressive and controlling.”

Gjert claimed via his attorney that his claim was “baseless” and that he had never abused his children.

In April, Gjert was charged with one offence, but due to time constraints, five charges were dropped. The case was later expanded with a new charge.

Jakob won two Olympic medals, two of them, two of which were silver in the 1500m, and one of the 11-time European champions.