Athletics: Norwegian police open investigation after revelations by Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen

A column published last Friday by the trio in the newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) had the effect of a bombshell: “We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who resorted to physical violence and threats in the framework of his education,” they wrote. “We still feel a discomfort and a fear that has inhabited us since childhood,” they added. Gjert, who coached the siblings until they broke up after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo - where Jakob won his title - denies the accusations.

“We carried out several preliminary investigations and the information that emerged led to the opening of an investigation,” said Inspector Terese Braut Våge of the South West Region Police, where the family is from. . “The objective is to determine whether criminal offenses have been committed,” she added in a statement. The lawyer for Gjert Ingebrigtsen, himself a 57-year-old former athlete, said the police decision was "not unexpected". “My client is confident about the outcome of the investigation,” commented counsel John Christian Elden, emphasizing that this is “his only opportunity to prove his innocence.”

Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, 23, is the most successful and the youngest of the three brothers, with a double world champion title over 5,000 m in 2022 and 2023. His brothers Henrik, 32, and Filip, 30, have were European champions in the 1,500 m in 2012 and 2016. Once the break with them was complete, Gjert Ingebrigtsen began to train another Norwegian runner, Narve Gilje Nordås, causing tensions between the latter and the three brothers as well as within the Norwegian Athletics Federation.

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