Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah says that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. The smugglers named him Mohammed Farah.
Great Britain’s running greatness Mo Farah39, says BBC’s (switching to another service)startling revelations about his childhood in the news documentary. The documentary The Real Mo will be shown in Great Britain on Wednesday, but details about the content of the documentary have already been announced.
The first big revelation is that the British runner’s real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. According to Farah, the smugglers named him Mohammed Farah.
Farah has said before that she once arrived in Great Britain from Somalia with her parents as refugees. Now he reveals in the documentary that his parents have never been to Great Britain.
Her father Abdi died in Somalia in a firefight in 1991 when Farah was four years old. Somalia declared itself independent at the time, but it has not been internationally recognized.
Farah says in the documentary that she was smuggled to Great Britain at the age of nine. He was first taken to Djibouti, from where Farah was later transported to Europe.
Farah was transported to the country by a woman who told the little boy that he could go to Europe to live with his relatives. Farah said she was curious as she had never traveled by plane before.
The woman told the boy to use the name Mohammed Farah. The woman had fake documents with her. When they arrived in the UK, the woman took him to her flat in West London and tore up a piece of paper with details of Farah’s relatives.
– At that moment I knew I was in trouble, Farah recalls.
Running saved
According to Farah, she had to take care of the family’s children and the home. If he didn’t, he couldn’t eat. The woman also threatened Farah that she would never see her family again.
In the first years, the family forbade him to go to school. Farah finally enrolled herself in school at the age of 12. His study guide Sarah Rennie tells the BBC that the people who called themselves Farah’s parents never attended the school’s parents’ evenings.
At school, Farah’s athletic gifts came to the fore. PE teacher by Alan Watkinson according to me, the only language Farah knew was exercise.
Watkinson helped Farah get into the custody of another family.
– I still missed my real family, but at that moment everything changed for the better, Farah said.
Farah finally found the run. He eventually became a running legend known to all. During his career, Farah has won four Olympic golds and six world championships. In recent years, he has focused on street running and marathons.
– What really saved me and what made me different was that I could run.