Sir Mo Farah has revealed in a BBC documentary that he was smuggled into the UK under the name of another child.
The four-time Olympic champion said “the truth is I’m not who you think I am”, adding that he must tell his true story “at any cost” in the documentary, titled The Real Mo Farah.
The 39-year-old father-of-four said: “Most people know me as Mo Farah but that’s not my name or the reality.
“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 I was four my father was killed in the civil war, you know we were torn apart as a family.
“I was separated from my mother and brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohammed Farah.”
Sir Mo Farah holds a picture of himself as a child
(Andy Bogue/BBC/PA Wire)
Farah, who became the first British athlete to win four Olympic gold medals, 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.
“That’s the main reason I’m telling my story, because I want to feel normal and … not feel like you’re holding on to something.”
Farrah’s wife Tanya Nell said that in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding, 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 .
Sir Mo Farah receiving his knighthood, accompanied by his wife Tanya, in 2017
(PA)
During the documentary, Farah said he thought he was going to Europe to live with relatives and recalled going through UK passport control under the guise of Mohammed at the age of nine.
He said: “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.”
The athlete returned to his childhood home in Hounslow, recalling “not great memories” where he was not treated as part of the family.
He said: “If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to look after these children, bathe them, cook for them, clean for them and she said: ‘If you ever want to see your family again, don’t say anything . If you say anything, they will take you away’.
“So she told you don’t talk about anything or I was in big trouble and I guess for me the only thing I could do, in my control, was to run away from it and get out and run.”
Farah eventually told the truth to his PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, and moved in with his friend’s mother, Kinsey, who “really cared a lot” for him, and he stayed for seven years.
Sir Mo Farah with his old PE teacher Alan Watkinson, who helped him gain British citizenship
(Andy Bogue/BBC/PA Wire)
It was Watkinson who applied for Farah’s British citizenship, which he described as a “long process”, and on 25 July 2000, Farah was granted British citizenship.
Farah, who named his son Hussain after his real name, said: “I often think about the other Mohammed Farah, the boy whose seat I took on that plane, and I really hope he’s OK.
“Wherever he is, I carry his name and it could cause problems now for me and my family.
“The important thing for me is just to be able to say, ‘Look, this happened,’ and just be honest, really.”
In the documentary, a lawyer tells Farah that even though he was trafficked into the country as a young child and has told the relevant authorities the truth, there is still a “real risk” of his British citizenship being revoked because it was obtained through misrepresentations.
But it is understood the Home Office will not take any action against Farah and he will not be stripped of his citizenship.
Sir Mo Farah returned to Somaliland to visit his mother Aisha and family while filming the documentary
(Ahmed Fais/BBC/PA Wire)
The Department’s guidance clarifies that a child is presumed not to be an accessory to obtaining citizenship by fraud, stating: “If the person was a child at the time the fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of a material fact (which resulted in to citizenship), the case worker must accept that he is not complicit in any fraud by his parent or guardian.”
Speaking to his wife, Farah said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been ready to say anything, not because you want to lie, but because you’re defending yourself.
“[I] i think it’s only later that you realize it’s okay to let things out and tell how it happened.
“But in this I think you know I was trafficked and that’s what it feels like.”
The documentary ends with Farah talking to the real Mohamed Farah, whose identity he assumed when entering the UK, before adding that the athlete will continue to use the name he was given when he entered the UK.
The Real Mo Farah will be broadcast at 6am on BBC iPlayer and 9pm on BBC One on 13 July.
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