According to the Norwegian newspaper VG, the alleged incident involving Gjert Ingebrigtsen (center) occurred in January 2022.
The father of Olympic champion and world champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen was accused of domestic violence after he hit one of his children in the face with a towel.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen, who coached Jakob and his brothers Henrik and Filip to European 1500m gold, was publicly accused of abuse last October and is under police investigation.
“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the three brothers wrote in an article for the VG newspaper.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen, who has seven children, denies this. any criminal offense, but the indictment was filed on charges that reportedly involve one of the three brothers' siblings.
According to Agence France-Presse, between 2018 and 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen “allegedly beat, insulted, threatened and hit a child in the face with his hand or a towel.”
Norwegian newspaper VG reports that according to the indictment on two pages, the central incident occurred in January 2022, when Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly hit one of his children “in the face with a wet towel so that a red mark appeared on the cheek.”
Police said they had closed their investigation into events involving six other children due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations had expired.
“With respect to closed cases, we agree that there are no evidence that Ingebrigtsen committed any offence,” Ingebrigtsen's lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP.
“Ingebrigtsen otherwise disputes the description of the facts on which the charge is based – and therefore he does not admit guilt.”
Police inspector of the southwestern police district of Norway Theresa Braut Vahe told the VG newspaper that they conducted a preliminary investigation and have now opened a criminal case.
“The case was opened under Article 282 of the Criminal Code. The code is violence in intimate relationships,” said Braut Wage. “This means that we are now at the stage of investigation, the purpose of which is to determine the presence of criminal circumstances.
“I would like to emphasize that investigations into cases of abuse in intimate relationships are matters that by their nature require careful investigation over a period of time.”
Mette Yvonne Larsen, representing Ingebrigtsen's five children, said that at least one of these suspensions will be appealed.
“The charge brought forward is serious and concerns one of my clients who is in a vulnerable position,” she told VG. “Today's man feels believed.”
Jakob Ingebrigtzen is a two-time world champion in the 5000 meters and is also the reigning Olympic champion in the 1500 meters before defending his title this summer against Britain's Josh Kerr. who defeated him. won the 1500m world title in Budapest last year.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen stopped coaching his sons in 2022 but now trains his Narve teammate Gilje Nordas, who himself won bronze at the championships last summer world, immediately after Jacob. The Norwegian Olympic Committee has announced that Gjert Ingebrigtsen will not receive accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
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