Status: 07/12/2022 11:12 a.m
British long-distance runner Mohamed Farah has revealed for the first time in a BBC documentary that he is living under a fake name.
“The truth is, I’m not who you think I am,” the four-time Olympic track and field champion said in pre-release excerpts of the show, titled The Real Mo Farah. He won gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at home games in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016.
The 39-year-old from Somalia stated that he was born Hussein Abdi Kahin in a region that has since become largely independent as Somaliland. Contrary to what he previously stated, Farah said his parents never lived in the UK.
Brought to the UK illegally
Instead, his father died in the civil war and he was separated from his mother. At the age of nine he finally traveled to the United Kingdom. “I was brought to the UK illegally under the name of a child other than Mohamed Farah,” he said.
Farah said the fact that he was now going public was inspired by his own children. “Family means everything to me and as a parent you teach your children to be honest. But I always felt that I always had this secret, never being able to be myself and tell what really happened.” It is now important for him to be able to tell the truth, Farah continued.
Farah doesn’t have to fear any consequences
The athlete knows nothing about the fate of the real Mohamed Farah. He hopes he is doing well, he added. A lawyer warns Farah in the documentary that he could lose his British citizenship as a result of the revelation. But according to the British news agency PA, the Home Office in London has already indicated that he has nothing to fear.
Source: sportschau.de