The father and former coach of Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigsen has been charged with abusing another child, police said Monday, escalating an ongoing dispute involving Norway's most prominent sporting family. are doing.
Ingebrichtsen won the 1,500-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics and emerged from an early age as one of Europe's biggest track and field stars, coached by her father, Gjert Ingebrichtsen. But his two brothers, who are also top-level runners, have previously accused their father of using “physical violence and intimidation as part of their education.”
Norwegian police then began investigating Gjert Ingebrigsen and on Monday charged him with physically and emotionally abusing other young children. The alleged abuse occurred between 2018 and early 2022 and included at least one instance of threats, coercion and hitting the child in the face with a towel, according to an indictment reviewed by The Associated Press.
Monday's charges do not involve 23-year-old Jakob Ingebrigsen or his older brothers Henrik and Filip, three prominent runners. Police did not release the child's identity.
If convicted, Gjert Ingebrigsen could face up to six years in prison. A trial date has not been set.
Therese Braut-Wage, the chief of police in southeastern Norway, told The Associated Press that cases involving five other alleged victims had been dismissed “based on the evidence,” including one case due to a statute of limitations. said.
Jert Ingebrigsen's lawyer, John Christian Erden, said his 58-year-old client “disagrees with the presentation of the case” and “therefore does not admit criminal guilt.”
Gjert Ingebrigtsen was named Norway's Sports Coach of the Year in 2018 after Jakob, Henrik and Filip won medals at major competitions that year. The family was also the subject of the television documentary series Team Ingebregtsen, which was broadcast by public broadcaster NRK for five seasons from 2016 to 2021, leading up to the Tokyo Olympics.
However, on October 19 last year, the three brothers published an editorial in the Norwegian newspaper VG detailing their father's behavior, saying that their father had been “very aggressive and controlling”, violent and abusive during their childhood. Stated.
They said the “similar aggression and corporal punishment struck again” against someone else two years ago, but that was “the straw that broke the camel's back”.
The three brothers severed ties with their father, and Gjert Ingebrigsen has since started coaching another Norwegian runner, Narve Gilje Nordas. But Tore Ovrebo, head of Norway's governing body for Olympic sport, said Ingebrigsen would not be allowed to join Norway's staff for this summer's Paris Games. He was also denied qualification for the 2023 Budapest World Championships, where Jakob won gold in the 5000m.
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