Olympic great Sir Mo Farah was illegally trafficked to Britain on the age of 9 from Djibouti and compelled to work as a child servant, he has revealed, saying his actual title is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
The distance runner was flown to the UK from the east African nation aged eight or 9 by a lady he had by no means met, given the title Mohammed Farah, after which made to take care of one other household’s kids, he tells a BBC TV documentary “The Real Mo Farah” to be aired Wednesday.
Watch the doccie trailer by clicking here.
Farah, who accomplished the 5,000m-10,000m double at each the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, has beforehand stated he got here to the UK as a refugee from Somalia along with his mother and father.
But in beautiful revelations the 39-year-old now says his mother and father have by no means been to the UK — his father was killed in civil unrest in Somalia when Farah was 4 years previous and his mom and two brothers dwell within the breakaway state of Somaliland, which isn’t internationally recognised.
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“The truth is I’m not who you think I am,” says Farah. “Most people know me as Mo Farah, but it’s not my name or it’s not the reality.”
The lady who flew with him to the UK advised him he was being taken to dwell with relations and to say his title was Mohamed as she had faux journey paperwork that confirmed his photograph subsequent to the title “Mohamed Farah”.
Farah, the primary British monitor and discipline athlete to win 4 Olympic golds, stated his kids motivated him to inform the reality about his previous.
“I’ve been keeping it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask questions, ‘Dad, how come this?’ And you’ve always got an answer for everything, but you haven’t got an answer for that,” he stated.
“That’s the main reason in telling my story because I want to feel normal and don’t feel like you’re holding on to something.”
‘Get out and run’
Farah’s spouse Tania stated within the yr main as much as their 2010 wedding ceremony she realised “there were lots of missing pieces to his story” however she finally “wore him down with the questioning” and he advised the reality.
When he arrived within the UK, Farah says the girl who accompanied him took a piece of paper from him that had his relations’ contact particulars and “ripped it up and put it within the bin.
“At that moment, I knew I was in trouble,” he says.
Farah says he was compelled to do house responsibilities and childcare “if I wanted food in my mouth”, and was advised: “If you ever want to see your family again, don’t say anything.”
“Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry,” he says.
Farah’s bodily schooling instructor, Alan Watkinson, observed how the teenager’s temper modified when he was on the operating monitor.
“The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport,” says Watkinson.
Mo Farah ‘escape’
Farah says it was athletics that enabled him to flee.
“The only thing I could do to get away from this (situation) was to get out and run,” he says.
Farah finally advised Watkinson the reality and he knowledgeable native authorities.
It was Watkinson who utilized for Farah’s British citizenship which he described as a “long process” and on July 25, 2000 Farah was recognised as a British Citizen.
“I often think about the other Mohamed Farah, the boy whose place I took on that plane and I really hope he’s OK,” stated Farah.
Farah was praised on Wednesday for telling his story.
“We applaud @Mo_Farah for his bravery in telling his heartbreaking story,” tweeted Britain’s Refugee Council charity.
“He underlines the human reality at the heart of so many stories like his,” it added. “And the desperate need for safe and humane routes for people seeking asylum.”