Ingebrigtsen brothers accuse former Coach, their father, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, of violence and threats

In a copyrighted article by Reuters (https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/38702416/jakob-ingebrigtsen-brothers-accuse-father-violence-threats), Jakob, Filip, and Henrik have accused their father, Gjert Ingebrigtsen of “physical violence and abusive behavior”.

This controversy has been going on for some time in the Norwegian press, and Gjert Ingebrigtsen was not recognized as a coach by the Norwegian federation; hence no credentials in Budapest from World Athletics.

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World Athletics explained to RunBlogRun, “World Athletics can only recognize coaches who have been recognized by the National Federation.”

Per the Reuters article, lawyers became involved when Gjert Ingebrigtsen was not recognized again as a coach by the Norwegian federation, making it impossible for him to be credentialed as a coach at the World Indoors in Glasgow (March 2024) and Paris Olympics (August 2024).

In the original article, which was published in Norwegian websites, an article was written by Jakob, Filip, and Henrik Ingebrigtsen explaining that, due to overwhelming media scrutiny, they have come out to say why they left Gjert as a coach two years ago.

The three brothers accused their father of violence and abusive behavior and noted that he had done this as recently as two years ago.

Gjert Ingebrigtsen has denied all abuse and violence, admitting, however, that he was less than the perfect father.

The lawyer for Gjert, John Christian Elden, notes that VG Publishing should not have published the accusations as there are no charges, and Gjert has denied the accusations.

RunBlogRun understands that the Norwegian Federation has lawyered up and that this could head to the Norwegian courts.

At RunBlogRun, not knowing any of this, we asked last week why Gjert was not on the coaching list for Norway, and unfortunately, now we know.

RunBlogRun will update as we learn new information.

To read more: From Guardian UK: Jakob Ingebrigtsen and brothers Henrik and Filip accuse father, Gert, of Vioent and Abusive behavior, by Sean Ingle, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/20/jakob-ingebrigtsen-brothers-henrik-filip-accuse-father-gjert-violent-abusive-behaviour-athletics

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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