Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen testifies against father in abuse trial

Oslo: Double Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the stand Tuesday at his father´s trial -- 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 the day before 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.

The trial against Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 59, began on Monday and he 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. 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.