Sir Mo Farah has revealed he was trafficked into Britain under the name of another child as a nine-year-old and forced to work as a domestic slave.
The four-time Olympic champion previously claimed he left Somalia aged eight to join his father after his parents made the agonizing decision to send three of their six children to London for the chance of a better life.
However, in a new documentary The Real Mo Farah, to be broadcast by the BBC on Wednesday, the 39-year-old says he was actually trafficked to London by a stranger under a different name after fleeing the war in Somalia.
“Most people know me as Mo Farah, but that’s not my name or reality,” he says. “The real story is that I was born in Somaliland, north of Somalia, as Hussein Abdi Kahin. Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK.
When he arrived in Britain, Farah claimed he was living with a married couple who treated him badly. His school PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, rescues him and helps him apply for British citizenship using his alias.
In the documentary, the athlete also admits that the name Mohamed Farah was stolen from another child and used to create a fake passport.
“When I was four my father was killed in the civil war, you know as a family we were torn apart,” he said. “I was separated from my mother and brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohammed Farah.”
Farah said he and his twin Hassan were sent by their mother to live with their uncle in neighboring Djibouti for their own safety. Farah said he remembers a woman visiting the house several times to watch him. He was told that she would take him to Europe to visit relatives.
He was also informed that he would be renamed Muhammad. “As a kid, you never think beyond what you’re told,” he says in the documentary.
However, Farah says that when he arrived in the UK, he faced a very different reality. “I had all my relative’s contact details and as soon as we got to her house, my lady took them off and right in front of me tore them up and put them in the bin and that’s when I knew I was in trouble,” he said.
Farah said his children motivated him to be honest about his past. “Family means everything to me and, you know, as a parent, you always teach your kids to be honest, but I feel like I’ve always had this personal thing where I could never be myself and tell what’s really going on has happened,’ he said.
“I’ve kept it for so long, it’s been hard because you don’t want to face it and often the kids ask me questions like, ‘Dad, where did that come from?'” And you always have an answer for everything, but you don’t have an answer for this.
Farah’s wife, Tanya, said in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding that she realized “there were a lot of missing pieces of his story” but eventually she “tired him out with the questioning” and he told the truth.
In the documentary, Farah admits to worrying about her immigration status. However, the Home Office confirmed on Monday night that he would not face any consequences. “No action will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesman said.
The documentary ends with Farah talking to the real Mohammed Farah, whose identity he assumed entering the UK, before adding that Farah will continue to use the name he was given when he entered the UK.
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