Olympic Medalist Mo Farah Reveals He Was Trafficked To UK As Child And Forced Into Domestic Service

LONDON (VINnews) — Olympic gold medalist Sir Mo Farah has revealed that he was illegally trafficked into Britain under the name of another child as an eight-year-old and forced into domestic servitude. Farah’s revelation will be broadcast in a documentary by the BBC and Red Bull Studios and will be airing on Wednesday.

The four-time Olympic champion had previously claimed he had left Somalia at the age of eight to join his father, after his parents made the agonising decision to send three of their six children to London for the chance of a better life.

However in the new documentary, dubbed The Real Mo Farah, the 39-year-old says that in fact he was illegally trafficked to London by a stranger under an assumed name after escaping the war in Somalia.

“Most people know me as Mo Farah, but it’s not my name or it’s not the reality,” he says. “The real story is 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.”

In the documentary, the athlete admits that the name Mohamed Farah was stolen from another child and used to create a fake passport.

“When I was four, my dad was killed in the civil war, you know as a family we were torn apart,” he said. “I was separated from my mother, and I was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah.”

Farah said he and his twin, Hassan, were sent by their mother to live with an uncle in neighbouring Djibouti for their own safety. Farah said he recalled a woman visiting the house several times to observe him. He was told that she would be taking him to Europe to live with relatives.

He was also informed that he would be renamed Mohamed. “As a kid, you never think beyond what you’ve been told,” he says in the documentary.

However Farah says that when he arrived in the UK he was not brought to his relatives. “I had all the contact details for my relative and once we got to her house, the lady took it off me and right in front of me ripped them up and put it in the bin, and at that moment I knew I was in trouble,” he said.

Farah says he was forced to do housework and childcare “if I wanted food in my mouth”. He says the woman told him: “If you ever want to see your family again, don’t say anything.”

“Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry,” he says.

For the first few years the family didn’t allow him to go to school, but when he was about 12 he enrolled in Year 7 at Feltham Community College.

His old form tutor Sarah Rennie told the BBC that he came to school “unkempt and uncared for”, that he spoke very little English and was an “emotionally and culturally alienated” child.

She says the people who said they were his parents didn’t attend any parents’ evenings.

His Physical Education teacher at school, Alan Watkinson, rescued him and helped him to apply for British citizenship using his assumed name.

“The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport,” he says.

Sir Mo says sport was a lifeline for him as “the only thing I could do to get away from this [living situation] was to get out and run”.

After Mo revealed his predicament to Watkinson, The teacher contacted social services and helped Sir Mo to be fostered by another Somali family.

“I still missed my real family, but from that moment everything got better,” Sir Mo says.

“I felt like a lot of stuff was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt like me. That’s when Mo came out – the real Mo.

Farah said his children have motivated him to be truthful 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 that private thing where I could never be me and tell what’s really happened,” he said.

“I’ve been keeping it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask questions, ‘Dad, how come this?’ And you’ve always got an answer for everything, but you haven’t got an answer for that.

In the documentary, Farah admits to being worried about his immigration status. However, the British Home Office confirmed Monday night that he would not face any repercussions. “No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said.

The documentary ends with Farah speaking to the real Mohamed Farah, whose identity he took entering the UK, before adding that Farah will continue to go by the name he was given when he entered the UK.