(Reuters) -Norwegian athletics coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen on Monday denied physically abusing his track star son and daughter, telling a court he had been an overly protective father who had tried to help his ambitious children.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen has pleaded not guilty to charges of physically abusing double Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Ingrid Ingebrigtsen, a promising athlete who gave up competitive running at the age of 15 in 2022.
The 59-year-old faces up to six years in prison if he is convicted, with the trial due to run until May 16 in Sandnes, Norway.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen – who won the 5,000 metres gold at the Paris Games and the 1,500 metres in Tokyo – last week described a childhood marked by fear and manipulation when he took the witness stand.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen described several incidents of violence. In one of them, prosecutors allege Gjert Ingebrigtsen struck his son several times after receiving a negative report about his behaviour from school when he was eight.
On Monday, Gjert Ingebrigtsen addressed the court in his own defence, saying he had sought to protect all seven of his children, two more of whom also became successful athletes.
“Highlighting relevant incidents in relation to the charges may make it seem like I am being portrayed negatively towards my children. But I love my children immensely,” he said in court.
“I became a father very early, with an enormous need to protect,” he was quoted as saying by Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. “I became what one might call overly protective.”
He told the court the ambition of some of his children had been “absolutely extreme” when they got involved in sports, according to NRK.
“I never heard ‘could you please,’ but rather entirely different demands and expectations. The demands from the children were about district level, national level, European level, and world level. Later, ‘Dad’ became ‘Gjert,’ and ‘Gjert’ became ‘the accused’,” he was quoted as saying.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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