The father of the Norwegian track and field superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen has denied kicking the double Olympic gold medallist and whipping his daughter in the face with a sweaty towel.
At the start of the second week of the explosive trial that has gripped Norway, Gjert Ingebrigtsen repeatedly broke down in tears as he insisted that he had never hit anyone in his life – and had been so against violence that he had been discharged from the military.
Across five hours of evidence, Gjert accepted that he had sometimes been demanding while coaching his three sons, Jakob, Henrik and Filip, to major international titles – and also acknowledged that he had once thrown the family PlayStation out of a second floor window after a row.
However Gjert, who is facing six years in jail for abusive behaviour towards Jakob and Ingrid, denied all allegations of violence.
Much of his testimony centred around an incident involving Ingrid in January 2022, which led to the brothers severing their ties with him. Last week, Ingrid, who is now 18, told the court she had been “whipped” in the face with a wet towel after her father had refused to let her play outside with friends.
However Gjert insisted that while he regretted the incident, his towel had only made contact with her finger.
“I’m drying my neck with a towel,” Gjert told the court in Stagnes, Norway. “She’s really angry and says: ‘I fucking don’t want to be in this prison of yours any more,’ while holding her index finger at me.
“I pull the towel against her finger twice in quick succession. She then says: ‘What the hell are you doing, are you hitting me?’ To which I reply: ‘I didn’t hit you.’
Pressed by the judge about whether it really was only the finger that was struck, Gjert replied. “Yes, given the distance we were standing at, and the size of the towel, nothing else would be possible.”
Last week the court was shown a photograph of a red mark on Ingrid’s face following the incident, but Gjert suggested it may have been caused by “acne or a skin reaction”. He said that all his children had suffered from a similar condition when they were “agitated or sad”.
Asked whether he got the impression the blow had hurt, Gjert added: “No, I think it hurt both of us. And I think the ‘hurt’ wasn’t physical. I think it was much more emotional. She was very disappointed, sad and scared all at once that I could do what I did.”
Gjert also admitted that he had found it “extremely difficult to accept my own actions” and made it clear he missed his daughter, who has not lived with her parents since.
“I miss her every day,” he said. “She is the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night, and the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. The loss is extreme.”
Gjert also denied claims made in court last week that he had kicked Jakob off a scooter when the Tokyo 1500m and Paris 5,000m Olympic champion was eight or nine.
“It is completely unthinkable that I would have kicked him,” he said. “It is completely out of the question to kick one of my children.”
Gjert, who also denied that he had pushed Jakob so hard that he flew several metres after a row over an iPad, painted a negative picture of his son as he and Ingrid watched on in court.
“Jakob has been a privileged boy his whole life, he’s been allowed to do and say whatever he wants,” he said. “He’s almost been carried on a golden chair his whole life. There have been different opinions related to the discussions, without a doubt. But nothing physical.
Gjert said that while he coached Jakob, his son was constantly telling him how “useless, ignorant and hopeless” he was. And that, before he won his first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Jakob would tell him: “Dad is an idiot who is going to ruin everything.”
The 59-year-old coach told the court he was so opposed to violence that he had told his children they should not play video games such as Counter Strike and Grand Theft Auto.
“I have spent a lot of time implementing non-violence in my children’s upbringing,” he said. “Violence is not a solution to anything.”
“There was a constant argument and discussion about their constant urge to play these games with elements of violence,” added Gjert, who said that on one occasion he had thrown the PlayStation out of the window and on to the asphalt in the courtyard.
The trial, which is due to last until 16 May, continues.