BITTERSWEET DECISION

A Norway court acquitted Gjert Ingebrigtsen of abusing his son, Olympic champion runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, but convicted him and handed him a 15-day suspended sentence for assaulting his daughter on one occasion.

Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 59, acted as trainer until 2022 to Jakob, 24, who won Olympic gold medals in the 5,000m in Paris in 2024 and the 1,500m in Tokyo in 2021.

He was accused of physical and psychological violence against Jakob and his sister Ingrid, 19, between 2008 and 2022, but denied the charges.

At the conclusion of the lengthy trial that lasted from 24 March to 15 May at the Sandnes court, he was acquitted of the abuse alleged by Jakob.

The court, however, found him guilty of one violent incident involving his daughter Ingrid.

In her testimony, Ingrid told the court her father hit her in the face with a wet towel in January 2022 — a picture taken that day showed her with a red cheek.

He said he was aiming for her finger, which she was pointing at him during a row.

In addition to a 15-day suspended prison sentence, Ingebrigtsen Sr. was ordered to pay Ingrid 10,000 kroner ($1,000) in damages.

Prosecutors had called for him to be jailed for two and a half years.

“They didn’t say they were disappointed. They said they were surprised,” Mette Yvonne Larsen, Jakob’s and Ingrid’s lawyer, told reporters when describing her clients’ reactions to the verdict.

Meanwhile, the accused’s lawyers noted that “what was decisive for the court’s conclusion was the lack of evidence proving that Gjert Ingebrigtsen had instilled constant fear in his children.”

“The court specifically highlighted that several close family members as well as external witnesses had neither observed nor witnessed mistreatment,” they said in a statement.

The parties have 14 days to appeal the verdict.

Throughout the trial, Jakob referred to his father as “the accused” and told the court he stopped calling him “dad” at the age of 11 or 12.

“My upbringing was very much characterized by fear,” he told the court.

“I felt like I had no free choice and I wasn’t allowed to speak my mind. Everything was controlled and decided for me. An enormous amount of manipulation,” he said.