Mo Farah’s Stunning Revelations: Great Olympian Mo Farah, who was illegally brought to Britain at the age of nine from Djibouti and forced to work as a child servant, has revealed that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
Mo Farah is Hussein Abdi Kahin
The distance runner was moved from an East African country to Britain at the age of eight or nine he had never met, named Mohamed Farah, and was then made to look after the children of another family, he tells BBC TV documentary “The Real Mo Farah” will air on Wednesday.
Farah, who completed the 5,000m-10,000m double at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, had previously said that she had come to the UK as a refugee from Somalia with her parents.
But in surprising revelations, the 39-year-old now says his parents never moved to the UK – his father was killed in civil unrest in Somalia when Farah was four and her mother and two brothers lived in the separate state of Somaliland. Which is not recognized internationally.
Farah says, “The truth is I’m not who you think I am.” “Most people know me as Mo Farah, but that’s not my name or that’s not reality.”
The woman accompanying him to the UK told him that he was being taken to live with relatives and to say his name was Mohammed because he had fake travel documents showing his picture next to the name “Mohammed Farah“.
Farah, the first British track and field athlete to win four Olympic gold, said her children inspired her to tell the truth about her past.
“I’ve been having it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask the question, ‘Dad, how did it come to be?’ And you always have the answer to everything, but you don’t have the answer to it.”
“That’s the main reason I tell my story because I want to feel normal and not feel like you’re holding onto something.”
‘Get out and run’
Farah’s wife Tania said that in the year before their 2010 marriage she realized “there were a lot of missing pieces in her story” but that he eventually “worn her with questioning” and she told the truth.
When he arrived in the UK, Farah says the woman accompanying him took a piece of paper containing the contact details of his relatives and “tearned it up and put it in the bin.”
“At the time, I knew I was in trouble,” he says.
Farah says that “if I must eat in my mouth” she was forced to do housework and take care of the children, adding: “If you ever want to see your family again, so don’t say anything.”
“Often I would lock myself in the bathroom and cry,” he says. Mo Farah’s Stunning Revelations
Farah’s physical education teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed how the child’s mood changed while running.
“The only language he understood was PE and the language of the game,” Watkinson says.
Farah says that it was athletics that helped her escape.
“The only thing I could do to get away from this (situation) was to get out and run,” he says.
Farah eventually told Watkinson the truth and he informed the local authorities. Mo Farah’s Stunning Revelations
It was Watkinson who applied for Farah’s British citizenship in what he described as a “long process” and on July 25, 2000, Farah was recognized as a British citizen.
Farah said, “I often think of the other Mohammed Farah, the guy I replaced on that plane and I hope he’s okay.”
Farah was praised for telling her story on Wednesday.
Britain’s Refugee Council charity tweeted: “We applaud @Mo_Farah for his bravery in telling his heartbreaking story.”
“He underscores the human reality at the center of many stories like his own,” he said. “And there is a dire need for safe and humane routes for asylum seekers.”
