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When three-year-old Gjert Ingebrigtsen lost his father, his mother had to work harder to support him and his siblings. The upbringing shaped the 54-year-old, who had to stand up for himself from the start.
For the first 13 years of his life, Gjert Ingebrigtsen lived in Båtsfjord in Finnmark. The Sandnes running family has lived in the Norwegian public through the success of NRK Team Ingebrigtsen for several years, but viewers have never had a glimpse of the upbringing of the head of the family, Gjert.
In the new season of the television series, visit the birthplace for the first time in 20 years. Gjert says it “cost him to death” in the northern fishing village as a child, but growing up wasn’t easy either.
At the age of three, in 1970, he lost his father, Marvin Ingar Sverre Ingebrigtsen, to cancer. It turned the family upside down for the family of young children, forcing the mother to take in an additional roof to support the children.
– My upbringing was totally different from what you receive in today’s reality. At the same time, my older children had a completely different upbringing than my last children. At first, Tone and I were poor as lice and had nothing. It was similar to the upbringing I had there, but you still had what you needed. My reality was that my mother had to work twice to support us, but I didn’t have a bad education, says Gjert Ingebrigtsen to VG.
WELL KNOWN: Gjert had great freedom to explore Båtsfjord, where he got to know every nook and cranny. When he visited the fishing village this year, it had been 20 years since he was last there. But the memories came back. Photo: Private
The situation caused him to be left alone to a greater extent than other children. It meant a lot of time alone, both at home and on the streets of Båtsfjord.
– I would never allow my children to have the enormous freedom that I had, in that mother I worked twice, but at the same time I loved that freedom. Today’s children don’t walk far from home until they are 12 years old, but for my part there is not a rock in Båtsfjord that I have not crossed. I knew a lot of people and they knew me, I also had my grandparents there. It’s a proximity you don’t get in larger cities, says Gjert, who still has acquaintances in Finnmark.
He is, like his mother, a workhorse, and has long combined his work as a logistician with his job as a coach for the world’s best running brothers. A year ago, he quit his regular job to focus 100 percent on athletics.
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The memory of the father
The father contracted cancer for the first time at age 20. A few years later, the disease reappeared and his father had just turned 26 when he passed away. But it is a good memory that he burned in young Gjert.
– The first memory I have is that I was learning to ride a tricycle with my father. That’s the only memory I have of him, says the 54-year-old in the episode. He also has a younger and an older sister.
CYCLING MEMORY: It was his father who taught Gjert to ride a bicycle. Here, a few years later, with only two wheels. Photo: Private
Ingebrigtsen says he grew up early compared to many others. He’s not sure how much of his father is in him, as they never met personally. Therefore, he does not know if it is largely the heritage or the environment that has done to Gjert Gjert.
– It’s probably a combination, but you learn early on that you can’t trust others to explain why. I got up on my own ahead of time, and that’s largely what shapes you as a human being. I continued to have a good education despite the harsh environment on the Finnmark coast. That’s how it was then, he says, who moved south with his family when he was 13 years old.
– Has it been important for you to be close to your own children, considering that you lost your own father early?
– It is probably there in the subconscious, but it is not something that I have reflected on that way. You may well be more fired up because you don’t want to miss anything, but I don’t know for sure, says Gjert, who closely follows running brothers Henrik, Filip and Jakob, as well as eager daughter, Ingrid.
DECORATED: Go in a beautiful velvet suit, during the years in Båtsfjord. Photo: Private
Visited the burial site
During the visit to Båtsfjord, Gjert and his wife, Tone, visited their father’s grave. The cemetery was covered in snow, and the headstones barely protruded from the white mass of the ground. After much searching and digging with a shovel, they finally managed to find it.
– Can I be a little lonely? a slightly raised Gjert asks Tone in the episode.
Unexpected emotions came to life.
– Up to a point, one is prepared for a reaction. It was useless to find the grave. There was a lot of snow, I called my mother, but it was difficult to get guidance. It was a panic for a while not to find the grave, and we had a bad time for an event we were going to, so it was a bit of luck that we found out, he explains to VG at the time.
Watch the video of the cemetery visit on the top of the box.
Gjert wanted to show Tone the place of childhood. They had a nice trip this winter and next time he hopes to take the kids and the rest of the family north.
– We have decided that we will take a round with the boys and the family as we have the opportunity to do so, so that they can see where the origin comes from. Same with Lofoten, where my parents originally came from, he says.
The first episode of the new season of Team Ingebrigtsen will air on Saturday on NRK1 and NRK TV.
