\n<\/p>\n
Gjert had no background in athletics, but the former logistics manager poured himself into constructing a gruelling high-mileage programme to turn his seven children into a family band of elite middle-distance contenders.<\/p>\n
Gjert’s public advice to Jakob after that 1500m gold in Berlin was to celebrate with a glass of warm milk and head straight to bed.<\/p>\n
However, according to Jakob, the guidance wasn’t always so wholesome.<\/p>\n
In March this year, the Olympic champion stood in a courtroom in his native Norway and claimed he had been subjected to a decade of physical and mental abuse by his father.<\/p>\n
The stories were grim.<\/p>\n
Jakob said Gjert had threatened to drag him out of a car and beat him to death during one argument.<\/p>\n
Jakob said he would routinely be punched around the head, on some occasions until he vomited. He said he was hit when he was late for a race. And again when he got a bad school report.<\/p>\n
In another incident, he claimed he was kicked in the stomach after he fell off a push scooter as a nine-year-old.<\/p>\n
Gjert denied it all.<\/p>\n
He admitted he was a strict parent. “Traditional” and “patriarchal” were his own descriptions of his style. <\/p>\n
Gjert was only four when he lost his own father, and he said he lacked any role models when he became a father in his early 20s.<\/p>\n
He said he was sometimes angry, often over-protective<\/a>, but never abusive.<\/p>\n The dispute was shocking. But perhaps not surprising.<\/p>\n