The Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation into claims by Sir Mo Farah that he was trafficked into the UK and forced to work as a domestic slave.
The four-time Olympic champion told a BBC documentary that he was brought to London by a stranger under an assumed name after fleeing war in Somalia aged nine.
Scotland Yard detectives are now likely to question a Farrah couple accused of forcing him to cook, clean and look after a child, the Daily Telegraph reported.
He claims he was told he would never see his family again if he told anyone the truth. The documentary The Real Mo Farah also revealed that his name is actually Hussein Abdi Kahin.
A Met spokesman said: “We are aware of reports in the media regarding Sir Mo Farah. No reports have been made to MPS at this time.
“Specialists have launched an investigation and are currently assessing available information.”
The athlete previously claimed he left Somalia at the age of eight to join his father after his parents sent three of their six children to London for the chance of a better life.
Farah said his real father, Abdi, died in Somalia’s civil war before being sent by his mother to live with her family in Djibouti. He was then brought to the UK by a woman.
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 reveals that the name Mohamed Farah was stolen from another child and used to create a fake passport.
“Most people know me as Mo Farah, but that’s not my name or reality,” he said. “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.
He decided to go public with the truth about his past after being encouraged to do so by his children.
“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.”
Olympic champion Mo Farah shares harrowing experience of domestic slavery – video
The Home Office has confirmed that he will not face any consequences following the documentary. “No action will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesman said.
Farah is also believed to be in regular contact with her real mother Aisha and siblings in Somaliland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia.
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