The four-time Olympian said “the truth is I’m not who you think I am”, adding he must tell his true story “whatever the cost” in the documentary The Real Mo Farah. The father-of-four, 39, 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 before, my parents never lived in the UK. “When I was four years old, 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 to the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah.” Sir Mo Farah holds a photo of himself as a child (Andy Boag/BBC/PA Wire) Farah, who became the first British track and field 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 private thing where I could never be me and say what really happened,” she said. . “I’ve been holding it in for so long, it’s been hard because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask me questions, ‘Dad, how does this happen?’ 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 something back.” Farah’s wife Tania Nell said in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding that she realized “there were a lot of missing pieces to his story” but eventually “tired him of the questioning” and told the truth. Sir Mo Farah receives his knighthood, accompanied by his wife Tania, in 2017 (PA) During the documentary, Farah said he believed he was going to Europe to live with relatives and recalled passing passport control in the UK under the guise of Mohamed at the age of nine. He said: “I had all the contact details for my relative and as soon as we got to her house the lady took them off me and right in front of me she tore them up and put them in the bin and that’s when I knew I was in trouble.” The sportsman traveled back to his childhood home in Hounslow recalling “not good memories” where he was not treated like a member of the family. She said: “If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to take care of these children, shower them, cook for them, clean 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.’ “Well, he told you, don’t talk about anything or I was in big trouble and I guess for me the only thing I could do, under my control, was to get out of it, was to get out and run.” Farah eventually told his PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, the truth and moved in with his friend’s mum, Kinsi, who “really looked after him a lot” and ended up staying for seven years. Sir Mo Farah with his old PE teacher Alan Watkinson, who helped him get British citizenship (Andy Boag/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 recognized as a British citizen. Farah, who named his son Hussein after his real name, said: “I often think about the other Mohamed 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 that could cause problems now for me and my family. “The important thing for me is to be able to just say, ‘Look, this happened,’ and be honest, really.” In the documentary, a lawyer tells Farah that even though he had been trafficked into the country as a young child and told the authorities the truth, there is still a “real risk” of being stripped of his British citizenship as obtained by misrepresentation. However, it is understood that the Home Office will not take any action against Farah and will not strip him of his citizenship. Sir Mo Farah returned to Somaliland to visit his mother Aisha and his family during the filming of the documentary (Ahmed Fais/BBC/PA Wire) The department’s guidance makes clear that it presumes that a child is not complicit in obtaining citizenship by deception, stating: “If the person was a child at the time the fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of material facts (leading to citizenship) was committed. , the caseworker should assume that they were not complicit in any deception by their parent or guardian.” Speaking to his wife, Farah said: “I don’t think I was ever ready to say anything, not because you want to lie, but because you’re protecting yourself. “[I] Think you’ll only realize later down the line that it’s okay to let things go 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 speaking to the real Mohamed Farah, whose ID he took on entering the UK, before adding that the athlete will continue to go by 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.
