Long distance legend Mo Farah’s true identity revealed in new BBC documentary

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah revealed in a new documentary entitled “The Real Mo Farah” that he is not who everyone has believed him to be. Farah dropped a truth bomb in the documentary explaining when he was nine-years-old, he was brought to the U.K., given a new identity and was forced to be a domestic servant.

Farah was born in Somalia and was given the name Hussein Abdi Kahin by his parents. Unfortunately, the time growing up with a family to call his own was short-lived. Farah’s father died when he was just four-years-old in the Somali civil war and his family was torn apart almost immediately.

The young, scared boy was separated from his mother and was told he would be taken to the United Kingdom to live with family members. Farah, formerly Kahin, was given a new name to travel under; Mohamed Farah. He was taken to the U.K. with a woman he did not previously know.

When Farah arrived in the U.K., he did have contact information for family members who lived in Europe, but he never made it into their care. Upon arrival at this woman’s home, she took the information from him and tore it all up right in front of him. As a nine-year-old boy who was taken under the false pretense of security and a better life, he knew in that moment that he was far from safe.

In the documentary made by the BBC, Farah traveled back to his childhood home in west London and recalled growing up there where he was treated as anything but part of the family. Farah eventually shared with one of his teachers, Alan Watkinson, the truth and he went to live with a friend’s mom. For seven years, Farah lived with this family where he was accepted and cared for as one of their own.

Watkinson took it upon himself to help Farah with applying for British citizenship, and after a long, grueling process, he was finally recognized as a British citizen in 2000 at 15-years-old.

Later in life, Farah was reconnected with his mother, Aisha, who had no idea if her son had lived or died when he went away as a young boy. She explains she sent him to live with his uncle to get him away from the war-torn area he was living in. No one told her Farah had been sent away. She thought she would never see her son again.

What saved Farah from the tragic life he found himself in was running. In P.E. class at school, “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 explained. His P.E. teacher Watkinson not only saw potential in Farah, but saw the transformation in him when his feet hit the track. The relationship the two developed is what led to Farah’s freedom when he felt he was finally able to trust and rely on someone for help.

Farah’s story very much follows the path of many Disney plotlines with a parent who had passed away at an early age and a life riddled with mistreatment. Just as those Disney stories have a happy ending, so did Farah. While he may not be wearing a tiara, he has plenty of gold hardware to sport around his neck in this modern day fairytale.