Farah, who became the first British track and field athlete to win four Olympic golds, said he was born in Somaliland as Hussein Abdi Kahin.
Long distance runner Farah shot to fame during the London 2012 Olympic Games.
July 12, 2022, 9:04 AM +0545
By The Associated Press
LONDON — Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah has disclosed he was brought into Britain illegally from Djibouti under the name of another child.
“The truth is I’m not who you think I am,” the 39-year-old Farah told the BBC in a documentary called “The Real Mo Farah.”
Farah, who became the first British track and field athlete to win four Olympic golds, said his children have motivated him to be truthful about his past.
“The real story is I was born in Somaliland, north of Somalia, as Hussein Abdi Kahin,” he told the BBC. “Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the U.K.
“When I was 4, my dad was killed in the civil war, you know as a family we were torn apart. I was separated from my mother, and I was brought into the U.K. illegally under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah.”
During the documentary, Farah said he thought he was going to Europe to live with relatives and recalled going through a British passport check under the guise of Mohamed at the age of 9 after traveling with a woman he didn’t previously know. The athlete traveled back to his childhood home in west London, recalling “not great memories” where he was not treated as part of the family. Farah eventually told teacher Alan Watkinson the truth and moved to live with his friend’s mum who took care of him and he ended up staying for seven years. It was Watkinson who applied for Farah’s British citizenship, which he described as a “long process.” Farah was recognized as a British citizen in 2000.
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