Olympic champion athlete Mo Farah: I was brought to England illegally

Olympic champion Mo Farah announced on July 12, 2022 that everything known about him until now was a lie. Farah explained that when she was 8 years old, she was brought to England by human smugglers and worked as a maid. Farah, who did not reveal the name of the family she served, was given the title of 'sir' by the Queen in 2017.

Somali-born Olympic Champion Mo Farah, 39, who told his life story in the documentary prepared by the BBC, said that his real name is Hüseyin Abdi Kahin and that he was brought to England from Djibouti with a fake passport.

I would often cry in the bathroom

Farah explained that when he was only eight years old, he was brought to England by plane by a woman he did not know. The foster woman was babysitting the children of another family. “I often locked myself in the bathroom and cried,” says Farah, who lives in a house in west London and says about his childhood: “When I wanted to eat, the woman who took me to her house said that my job was to take care of her children, wash them, feed them and clean. She would threaten never to see my family if I said anything to anyone."

Born in Somalia, Farah's father died in the civil war when he was just 4 years old. The famous athlete was smuggled to England using the passport of another boy named Mo Farah. Long-distance runner Farah's mother and two brothers still live in Somalia. Farah's life, who was not allowed to go to school in his first years in England, changed after he was 12 years old when he was finally enrolled in school.

After Mo Farah's great success in the Olympics, his life has been reflected in the press many times. According to his life story, the 39-year-old British athlete came to England as a refugee from Somalia with his father when he was 8 years old. His aunt and uncle brought him up because his father was very uninterested. However, Farah's life story told so far is purely fiction, except that she was born in Somalia.

HIS TEACHER SAVED HIS LIFE

Farah knew very little English. “The only language he understood was the language of sports,” says physical education teacher Alan Watkinson of Farah. Watkinson helped Farah obtain British citizenship in 2000 and compete for England. When Farah confessed his situation to Watkinson, his teacher contacted the authorities and had his placed with another family. Farah, who won gold medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters races at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, was declared a "knight" by the Queen at a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace in 2017, and received the title of "sir".