What is Mo Farah’s real name, and what happened to him in Somalia?
MO FARAH has revealed that his much of his life is a lie, in an incredible interview.
The British Olympic hero explained how the name the country knows and loves him as is not, in fact, his own.
Farah admitted to making up details about his life in order to come to the country from war torn Somalia.
He had claimed to have joined his father in the UK, but in fact his dad was killed in the Somali Civil War.
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What is Mo Farah’s real name?
Mo Farah’s real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin, he admitted to the BBC.
The father of three said: “There’s something about me you don’t know. It’s a secret that I’ve been hiding since I was a child.
“I’ve been keeping it for so long, it’s been difficult because you don’t want to face it.
“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.
“That’s the main reason in telling my story because I want to feel normal and not feel like you’re holding on to something.
“To be able to face it and talk about the facts, how it happened, why it happened, it’s tough.
“The truth is I’m not who you think I am. And now whatever the cost, I need to tell my real story.”
It should, however, be noted that Farah has decided to keep his adopted name, so will continue being known as Mo.
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What happened to Mo Farah in Somalia and how did he arrive in the UK?
Farah had claimed his dad was an IT consultant who had grown up in London before moving back to Mogadishu.
However, in reality he was a father called Abdi who was killed in Somalia when Mo was just four.
His mother then sent Mo to neighbouring Djibouti for his safety.
She had hoped he would be reunited with his twin brother Hassan, but instead he was trafficked to the UK by a mystery woman.
On arrival, aged eight, she told him he was now called Mo Farah and had to look after her family in return for being fed.
Farah said: “My dad went to look after cattle and never came back. Due to the civil war happening between the North and the South, there were a lot of people fighting where he was.
“There was a massive bazooka shot. It hit the ground and flew into pieces and one piece hit him on the head and just straight off, off the head there.
“To me the hardest thing is, till this day, is like, I don’t even know what he looked like.”
Farah eventually told probing schoolteachers what had happened to him as they enquired into his unhappiness.
From there, social services intervened and he was eventually looked after by a Somalian woman, Kinsi, for seven years.