Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen testifies against father in abuse trial / Photo: Lise Åserud - NTB/AFP
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Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen testifies against father in abuse trial
Double Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the stand Tuesday at the trial of his father -- who is charged with abusing the sports star and his sister -- portraying a controlling and manipulative parent.
The 24-year-old athlete had returned to Norway late Monday from the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, where he won two gold medals.
"My upbringing was very much characterised by fear," Ingebrigtsen told the court in Sandnes, according to newspaper Verdens Gang (VG).
"Everything was controlled and decided for me. An enormous amount of manipulation," he said as he described his father and former coach.
Ingebrigtsen explained in particular how, as a schoolboy, he could not go to parties with the other children and how, as a teenager, he was made to train two or three times a day.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 59, is accused of physical and psychological violence against two of his seven children, Jakob and his sister Ingrid, 18, over a total period of 14 years, from 2008 to 2022.
He faces up to six years in prison if found guilty of the charges, which he denies.
Addressing the court, Jakob Ingebrigtsen claimed to be unable to cite a single good memory from his childhood with his family, and recounted several episodes of physical violence, including slaps and kicks to the stomach listed in the indictment -- some of which occurred when he was under eight years old.
- 'Extremely controlling' -
"When I was younger, between five and eleven years old, I would describe him as nervous, neurotic, and insecure. Extremely controlling," he replied when asked to describe his father.
"He had a lot of fear and insecurity in him, which turned into anger and aggression towards those around him," he continued.
On Monday, the first day of the lengthy trial which is set to last until May 16, the defence showed excerpts from the successful series "Team Ingebrigtsen", produced by public broadcaster NRK.
They argued that the series, composed of five seasons, which closely followed the Ingebrigtsen family over several years, shows a family where high-level athletes share their daily life with their coach and while it showcases a demanding environment, it is not equivalent to domestic violence.
"I heard the defence say yesterday that we do not understand what it takes to become a world champion," Mette Yvonne Larsen, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, responded on Tuesday.
"But these children above all wanted to be children," she added to the court.
On Wednesday, it will be Ingrid's turn to testify.
According to the indictment, she was insulted, threatened and hit in the face.
She lived several years in foster care due to her conflict with her father.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway in October 2023 when they accused their father of using "physical violence" and "threats" as part of their upbringing.
The brothers' allegations in an op-ed made headlines in Norway and abroad and prompted Norwegian police to open an investigation covering all of the seven Ingebrigtsen siblings.
Police dropped some of the accusations due to lack of evidence or the statute of limitations, but the prosecution retained several charges that involved Jakob and his sister Ingrid.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, winning gold in the world championships over 5,000m in 2022 and 2023, and claiming the 1,500m and 3,000m titles in Nanjing this weekend to win a rare world indoor double.
After pocketing the Olympic gold in the 1,500m in Tokyo in 2021, he also won the 5,000m gold at last summer's Paris Games.
In 2022 Jakob, Henrik, and Filip cut ties with their father, who was not invited to Jakob's wedding in September 2023.
O.Meyer--JdB
