Sir Mo Farah wanted to tell his real story, ‘whatever the cost’ ( Image: PA)
The Mirror
By Nicola Methven & Frances Kindon
Sir Mo Farah is one of the UK’s greatest sporting heroes, famed for his glory at the 2012 London Olympics.
But last year he heartbreakingly revealed that he’d been hiding a lifelong secret – he was trafficked as a child and brought into the country illegally to work as a servant.
His name isn’t even Mo Farah.
The athletics legend was born Hussein Abdi Kahin in Somaliland, and was smuggled into the UK by traffickers when he was nine.
He was brought here under a false identity to work as a servant.
Sir Mo – who turned 40 today – said: “The truth is I’m not who you think I am.
“And now, whatever the cost, I need to tell my real story.”
His mum was so desperate when his dad was killed during the Somali civil war in the late 1980s that Mo and his twin brother Hassan were sent to live with an uncle in neighbouring Djibouti on the Horn of Africa.
Mo was then brought to Britain instead of the real Mohamed Farah, who still lives in Somalia and has never been to the UK.
The astonishing details were revealed in a BBC documentary. He admitted he was unsure if going public with the truth means he has put his British citizenship in jeopardy.
He said: “Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK. When I was four, my dad was killed in the civil war. As a family we were torn apart.
“I feel like I’ve always had that private thing where I could never be me and tell what’s really happened.”
After hiding the truth for 30 years, he said he wanted to “feel normal” rather than “holding on to something”.
He was brought to the UK using false documents to work in domestic servitude for a family with younger children.
The woman who brought him in, in 1993, pretended to be his mum.
He realised he had taken someone’s place when the man meeting them at the airport wondered where his son was.
Sir Mo said: “He was her husband and their family name was Farah. He was waiting for [her] and his oldest son Mohamed.
“When they got to the house, the woman destroyed the contact details Mo had for his only UK relative.
“At that moment I knew I was in trouble,” Mo said.
The woman – who did not respond to requests to appear in the documentary – threatened him to stop him telling anyone the truth.