The revelation comes in a new documentary by the British broadcaster, which will be broadcast on Wednesday. In it, Farah also says that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he was born in Somaliland.
“Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK,” Farah told the BBC.
He says the family was “torn apart” after his father was killed in the civil war when he was just four years old. Somaliland declared independence in 1991 when it broke away from war-torn Somalia, but has never been recognized as a sovereign state.
“I was separated from my mother and brought illegally into the UK under the name of another child called Mohammed Farah,” he said in a clip from the interview.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist was eight or nine years old when he was taken to the UK by a woman he had never met before, he said.
After arriving, he says he was forced to “do housework and take care of the children.”
A few years later, he is finally allowed to enroll in school, where he confides in a physical education teacher about his situation. The teacher contacted social services and Farah was moved to a Somali foster family.
“I still missed my real family, but everything got better from that point on,” he told the BBC.
Farah, who was granted British citizenship in 2000, says running saved him from a life of slavery.
CNN has reached out to Farah’s representatives for comment.
Add Comment