Gjert apologizes to wife, Tone

Party’s here!! ;)

Gjert showing he is not tone deaf.

The photos in that article are heartbreaking:

-Gjert beaming with fatherly pride while holding up a tablet with a photo of his sons racing

-The joyful embrace Gjert and Jakob shared at the Olympics after Jakob won gold

-The love and pride in Gjert’s eyes while he looks at Jakob answering questions during a news conference

I don’t know how anyone can look at those photos and think that Gjert is a monster. This is a father who CLEARLY loves his children and has done everything he can to support them.

Has Gjert been perfect? No, nobody is. Everyone makes mistakes. But he has done his best.

As someone who grew up fatherless, I wish I had a father like Gjert. If I had a choice, I would have taken a strict overbearing father over an absent one. I was always so jealous of my high school cross country and track teammates whose parents came to every single meet. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have a father who actually supported my running goals.

I'm Norwegian and I've listened to the podcast where Gjert was interviewed, and I'm not impressed.

The kids forced him to train them

First of all, he makes it sound like his kids have hounded him to be their trainer, and that he wasn't left with much of a choice. He doesn't really say that his great passion has been to be a top level trainer (which it seems like for me, as he's still training Narve), that he had a drive for it, that he actively chose to spend so much time on some of his kids but not on others (there's 7 kids) - he really does make it sound like Henrik, Fillip and Jakob decided this for him and he sacrificed himself and his role as dad for them because they demanded it.

He does of course say that considering the falling out he's having with his kids right now, being their trainer wasn't worth it after all. Why does he still participate in the circus and trains Narve then? Even though his sons doesn't want him in the stadium etc.? Achieving success seems to still be a bigger priority for him than focusing on his non-training job and mending his relationships.

Daughter
Many believe that the core issue is between him and his only daughter, and he does bring her up specifically, saying that girls require very different parenting than boys and that he treated her like the boys and didn't acknowledge that she needed a different sort of connection with her parents. If we generalize, then yes, boys and girls can seem different in their formative years, but if you're parenting 7 children it shouldn't be such a massive mystery how to be a supportive and normal "girl dad". If we read between the lines here, he's probably yelled some abuse at her one too many times like he yells at the boys, and it's escalated to a place where their relationship can't be mended, and the 6 brothers have decided to support their sister. It seems like Gjert blames their falling out on her being a girl and behaving in a mysterious and irrational girl kinda way that he couldn't possibly understand.

Apologies

He only apologizes to his wife for being caught in the crossfire, but says he can't apologize to the kids because every kid deserves a specific apology (but has he actually done that, or plans to do it? Who knows).

To sum it up
Overall he kinda dodges the full responsibility for being the adult and the father who should have hit the brakes when the relationships with his kids got extremely strained. He says someone outside should've observed it and stopped them. He never says "I should've done it differently, I should've stepped down when we only talked about training, money and competing", it's always "the kids wanted to train and compete so I had to train them and it lead to this".

There are multiple sides to this story, and nobody is blameless. Why don’t the sons apologize to him? Not inviting Gjert to the wedding and banning him from meets is extremely classless and petty. Jakob fired his father merely months after Gjert guided him to gold. Rotten behaviour.

I disagree, we have to remember that these are not two equal parties - it's a parent and his children, and parents should take the main responsibility for everyone's well being.

You literally have no idea what happened, how you could possibly say the sons need to apologize to him?

If they were still children, yes. But in this case Jakob and his older brothers are grown men. If you’re old enough to win gold medals on the track, then you are old enough to act like an adult. They are acting like kids but they are not kids.

Because they are treating him like garbage and publicly humiliating him after everything he’s done for them. It’s not right.

You’re talking like they’re some 13 year old kids wtf. They’re full grown married adults with jobs and responsibilities and even kids for two of them. You can’t just say « yeah but everything is Gjert’s responsibility because he’s the father ».

Once again you don't have a clue what happened, any speculation is irresponsible. Their response could be entirely justified, or it could be a total overreaction, but certainly nobody here knows

I said that he should take the main responsibility, he should be the first to properly apologize (which he hasn't done, according to the interview). The brothers were the ones who actually took the initiative to end their professional relationship because they saw how toxic it was for everyone involved, it was not Gjert.

I understand how someone who grew up fatherless can look at those photos and feel the way you do, but happy family photos don't tell you anything about what is really going on in a household.

We don't know what went on there.

This is more turning to be like a Turkish television drama series.

the kids are very stubborn. it should be obvious to anybody who followed the show, how they react to races, questions, and other people. It's not to say they are completely at fault, but they are not an innocent party. It's not as simple as a typical children and their parents relationship.

Good for Gjert to apologize to his wife for putting her in the middle of this, but the kids should apologize to her as well.

If some incriminating info comes out against gjert that we don't know about yet, i will eat crow.

It is interesting that Gjert was able to let go enough to send Henrik to America for a semester of college XC. It was decided that didn't work, and Henrik would go back to training under father. That is a two person decision, that henrik participated in as an adult. Again, there are many sides. It is ridiculous to put this 100% on Gjert.

I'm not impressed, either: as of ca. 2021, this entire board is Norwegian.

Gjert is just your normal Norwegian: a huge ***hole, arrogant, thinks he's always right.