The Olympic riot – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule

What Norwegian athletics and, for that matter, the Olympic summit fear most of all, is of course that the conflict between the brothers Ingebrigtsen on the one hand and their father and ex-coach Gjert and his current student Narve Gilje Nordås on the other will spread all the way into the Olympics in Paris.

Everything so far indicates that the fear is real.

When one of the three brothers will make his season debut in Huelva in Spain on Tuesday evening, Narve Gilje Nordås has recently found it too good to start in the same race.

While older brother Henrik has never been afraid to take a confrontation, Filip Ingebrigtsen has appeared with a much greater degree of thoughtful gentleness, at least off the running track.

The duel with Nordås in the small Spanish coastal town of Huelva could change that.

When it happens the day after the serious indictment against Gjert Ingebrigtsen became known. And when the two weren’t really supposed to meet.

What NRK’s ​​athletics expert Vebjørn Rodal thinks can work as a provocation is in every way exactly that.

A provocation of the quite obvious and not least unnecessary kind.

Because it is difficult from the outside to understand what else made Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s current student decide to start in the 1500 meters as well, not just the 5000 meters he was already registered for.

It is very possible that there are sporting reasons. But that is not a given.

It is very possible that it is just Nordås’ own decision. But that is not a given.

Gjertda in the reeds

Because somewhere in the city on the Spanish southwest coast, the aforementioned Gjert Ingebrigtsen is also at the same time.

Which of course he is fully entitled to.

Ingebrigtsen has been charged, not convicted.

And at the time of writing is still the coach for the Norwegian Olympic hopeful Narve Gilje Nordås.

The question is, however, whether he should.

Too many had perhaps believed in and expected a somewhat lower profile in the very turbulent aftermath of the indictment’s publication.

A legal development that also emphasizes the dark seriousness of this deep-seated family conflict.

And where the three running sons through their communications advisor have asked for calm, however they envision it to take shape, Gjert Ingebrigtsen is not someone who has in any way sought discretion or silence over the past many years.

And it can therefore seem as if the pursuit of attention has apparently not been dampened by the indictment.

A continuous reality show

The dozen years in which he and his family have been in the obviously attractive public light have been something close to a continuous reality show.

Parts of it have played out in the directed framework of the TV series, through five seasons as “Team Ingebrigtsen”, a program title currently bathing in the quicksand of irony.

While other parts have played out on and around athletics tracks around the world, where Gjert Ingebrigtsen and his three running sons achieved a success that can still only be described as sensational.

And then there are the last parts, which everyone could imagine having been left out.

Where the three brothers’ public accusations against their father in a chronicle in VG in autumn 2023 led to a necessary and expected investigation by the police.

And now it has ended in an indictment for violence in close relationships, specifically against one of Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s children.

In a reality no one is in control anymore.

For a family that should have been spared having their dysfunctional division exposed on the most wide-open stage this nation can imagine.

The price of the fairytale success has turned out to be sky high, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming trial.

No one in Norwegian sports history has sought publicity to the same degree. No one should equally regret having done so.

98 long days

Never has an athletics event in Huelva, a city the size of Stavanger, received more attention. At least not in Rogaland.

Perhaps we will get a display of dignity and sporting focus.

Perhaps we will get the first chapter in the horror summer of 2024, where huge sporting athletics hopes disappeared in a whirlwind of conflicts.

The three running brothers Ingebrigtsen will simultaneously make a new TV series. This time the focus will reportedly be on sports. And only on the brothers.

As if that was ever even possible.

The brothers would hardly have been what they are on the athletics track without their father. But Gjert Ingebrigtsen had definitely not been either he is without the running sons.

But he is something also without, namely the trainer for what at 20:50 on 6 August at the Stade de France in Paris could be the main challenger for a Jakob Ingebrigtsen who wants to defend the Olympic gold from Tokyo.

The 98 days until then could be the longest in the history of Norwegian athletics.

PS! Through his lawyers, Gjert Ingebrigtsen has stated that he disagrees with the presentation of the events on which the indictment is based, and that he does not plead guilty.