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The case in summary

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Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, is accused of physical and verbal abuse against one of his children.
The indictment comes in the middle of the season charging for Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who will defend his Olympic gold from Tokyo.
Narve Gilje Nordås, one of Jakob’s fiercest competitors, is trained by Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
The trial against Gjert Ingebrigtsen is expected to take place after the summer holidays, which means that it will take place over the Olympic period.
Former Olympic champion, Vebjørn Rodal, does not think the case will affect Jakob’s performance on the track.
Parts of the trial against Gjert Ingebrigtsen may be held behind closed doors due to privacy concerns.

The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.

– It will be a monumental challenge in managing to maintain a purely sporting focus.

That’s what NRK’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt says.

For 6 August, it will be decided under the floodlights at the Stade de France in Paris for Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Then he will run to defend his Olympic gold from Tokyo.

And one of his fiercest competitors? Narve Gilje Nordås. He is trained by Gjert Ingebrigtsen, who is also Jakob and the rest of the running brothers’ former coach.

– The timing is in every way as terribly bad as it gets, says NRK’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt.

Accused of physical violence and verbal abuse

Nordås has previously stated that he will not opt out of Gjert Ingebrigtsen as coach. He wants to wait until all the facts are on the table about the case.

NRK met Nordås on the way to the athletes’ hotel in Huelva on Monday. He did not want to comment on the matter.

– Not now, unfortunately.

On Tuesday morning, the prosecution decision, which is on seven counts, came against Gjert Ingebrigtsen. It includes both physical violence and verbal abuse. The indictment is about abuse in close relationships against one of his children.

John Christian Elden and Heidi Reisvang, who are Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s defenders, say he disagrees with the presentation of the events on which the indictment is based, and that he does not plead guilty.

The case comes up in the middle of the season charging for both Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Narve Gilje Nordås. They are two of Norway’s hottest medal candidates in both the EC in June and the Olympics in August.

– Jakob is the biggest international star in athletics, which is also the biggest during an Olympics. This will affect everything until the Olympic Games at the beginning of August, whether they wanted it or not, says Saltvedt.

– Will affect everything

Once an indictment has been brought, the case usually goes to court as soon as possible. Due to the circumstances of the case, where both parties have full calendars, it is not expected that the trial will take place until after the summer holidays.

– You have to find a time when everyone can meet. I would like to think that it will be hard to get this case up before the summer holidays, I don’t think that will happen, says Marius Dietrichson to NRK. He is a lawyer and former head of the defense group in the bar association.

This means that the case will take place over the Olympic period. According to NRK’s information, the case will most likely come before the court in October.

Dietrichson refers to the prosecution decision against Gjert Ingebrigtsen as serious.

– According to the law, this is a serious matter. The punishable act is also described as having taken place over several years against a child. It is consistently punished with a prison sentence if the court finds the defendant guilty, says Dietrichson.

NRK has tried to get comments from Gjert Ingebrigtsen, without getting any answers.

This has happened in the Ingebrigtsen conflict

From golden smiles, reality shows and jubilation, to family quarrels and accusations of violence. Here is the timeline of the Ingebrigtsen conflict.

It became known that the running brothers Jakob, Filip and Henrik Ingebrigtsen had broken off their collaboration with dad and coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen commented on the break with his coach father. – Some things don’t last forever, he commented after the first race without Gjert.
A month and a half after the news of the break-up, Henrik Ingebrigtsen opened up a little more and said that “after so many years it didn’t work anymore”. At the same time, he asked Gjert to step more into the role of father than into the role of coach.
Just over a week later, Gjert also broke his silence. – We knew that this wear and tear in the family would sooner or later strike. It has been tough, said Gjert Ingebrigtsen to NRK.
Gjert continued to train Narve Gilje Nordås and Per Svela. He was therefore present during the EC in Munich in the summer of 2022, where he stated that it was special to be in a championship without accompanying his own children.
The following six months Gjert student Nordås and the Ingebrigtsen brothers were at the same training camp. Then there was an episode that only became known in the autumn. Henrik Ingebrigtsen expressed that Nordås could not sit at the same table as him, and the union had to introduce measures.
Only months after the episode between Henrik Ingebrigtsen and Narve Gilje Nordås, the parties were again at the same training session. The atmosphere must have been bad there too, according to the latter.
Late in 2023, the conflict escalated in the public eye, when it became known that Gjert did not receive accreditation for the WC in Budapest. – It has been decided in a meeting today that he will not receive one of the coaching accreditations, based on an overall assessment, said Erlend Slokvik, head of sport in the Norwegian Athletics Federation, to NRK.
The championship was characterized by noise and war of words, and the ice front between Jakob and Gjert student Nordås became very visible.
A month after the WC, Nordås spoke out about the WC row and the argument with the Ingebrigtsen brothers. – I hope that people can travel around for conventions and championships to live under the same roof without it being so uncomfortable and tense, so that you almost can’t even be in the same arena, he said.
NRK revealed the aforementioned episode about the incident between Henrik Ingebrigtsen and Narve Gilje Nordås at a training camp. On the same day, the Norwegian Athletics Federation announced that Gjert will not be accredited for the championships in 2024 either.
Knut Jæger Hansen went out on NRK and described Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s behavior as “bullying and harassment”.
The Ingebrigtsen brothers wrote a chronicle in VG in which they opened up about the background to the long-running conflict. They described the father as violent and controlling. On the same day, lawyer John Christian Elden rejected all claims on behalf of Gjert. A short time later, the Norwegian Athletics Association made a statement: – The Norwegian Athletics Association’s intention is to provide safe surroundings and a healthy performance environment for our athletes, coaches, managers and people in the support apparatus. Based on Jakob, Filip and Henrik’s statements today, we will take responsibility for sharpening this work, part of it read.
– Based on the information that came to light through the media yesterday, it is natural for the police to investigate whether there is a reasonable reason to initiate an investigation,” said police inspector Terese Braut Våge to NRK the day after the brothers’ chronicle.
– Yes, that is the plan, Narve Gilje Nordås said when asked by TV 2 whether he intended to continue with Gjert Ingebrigtsen as coach.
In an article published in TV 2 and VG, Martin Ingebrigtsen, the brother of Jakob, Filip and Henrik, said that he “has never feared dad”.
The police decided to proceed with the case after carrying out preliminary investigations. – The information that has come to light has meant that we have now opened a criminal case, said police inspector Terese Braut Våge in the Sør-West police district.
Mette Yvonne Larsen, legal counsel for several members of the Ingebrigtsen family, said that a report had recently been lodged against Gjert Ingebrigtsen. She told Aftenposten that it was a family member who had reported Ingebrigtsen. The public assistance lawyer also said that several members of the Ingebrigtsen family had been in for questioning in the case.
In a press release on 28 November, the police stated that they are continuing the investigation, and that Gjert Ingebrigtsen has the status of a suspect. – Based on the information in the case, it was natural to give all of the children the status of offended. All the victims have now been questioned. Gjert Ingebrigtsen has the status of a suspect. He has been questioned and does not recognize himself in the grounds for suspicion, said police inspector Terese Braut Våge.
The police brought charges against Gjert Ingebrigtsen for bodily harm.
The police stated that Gjert Ingebrigtsen has been charged with a breach of section 282 of the Criminal Code, which applies to abuse in close relationships. There is one aggravated in the case for which he is charged. The cases against five victims were dismissed on the basis of the evidence, and one of the cases was dismissed due to statute of limitations, the police further stated.

Doubts that the case affects Jakob Ingebrigtsen

The case between the former running father and his sons has been going on since February 2022. Then they chose to separate. This happened just over six months after Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his first Olympic gold.

Where NRK’s sports commentator believes this will lead to noise for both Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Nordås, the former Olympic champion in the 800 metres, Vebjørn Rodal, believes that the matter will not go beyond the achievements on the running track.

– In practical terms, for Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s part, I think the difference might not be that big. When you are as good as Jakob Ingebrigtsen in an international sport such as athletics, and have been so good for such a long time, you possess some mental qualities and a mental capacity that is rock solid, says NRK athletics expert Rodal and continues:

– I think he can handle this in a decent way, but it’s not a dream situation.

The Ingebrigtsen brothers have, via their manager and press contact, asked for calm so that they can focus on the sporting side.

Expected that parts of the case go behind closed doors

It is expected that the case will go to court in October. The final estimate for the case has not been set.

A common principle in Norwegian jurisprudence is that all criminal cases must be heard in public. However, it is expected that parts of the trial will be held behind closed doors.

– Parts of the trial will exceptionally be kept out of the public eye, i.e. behind closed doors, when considerations of privacy require it. Perhaps especially if there are children involved, as in this case. This will be an overall assessment for the court, based on what the parties themselves want, says lawyer Dietrichson.

Thus, a trip to the courtroom in Sør Rogaland district court in the courthouse in Sandnes soon awaits Jakob Ingebrigtsen after the Olympics in Paris.

The article is in Norwegian

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