Sir Mo Farah has revealed he was taken from his family and trafficked to the UK at age 9.
In previous interviews, the Olympic gold-medalist had said he came to the United Kingdom from Somalia with his parents as a refugee.
But in his upcoming BBC One documentary ‘The Real Mo Farah’, the former I’m A Celeb star revealed the shocking truth: he was taken from his family in Somaliland and illegally brought to England using another child’s name.
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The 39-year-old, who revealed his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin, said:Â “Despite what I’ve said in the past, my parents never lived in the U.K.”
“When I was 4, my dad was killed in a civil war. As a family, we were torn apart. I was separated from my mother and I was brought into the U.K. illegally, under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah.”
Whilst looking at a copy of the forged visa which granted him access into the UK, Mo admitted he often wonders “what is Mohamed doing now.”
“From that moment, coming in, [I had] a different name, a different identity. I know I’ve taken someone else’s place.”
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In the documentary, the Olympian consults a lawyer over potentially losing his citizenship because it was obtained through fraud.
However, England’s Home Office said that “no action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo” as he was a child and therefore not complicit, according to The Telegraph.
The long-distance runner recalled his mother sending him and his twin brother Hassan to live with his uncle in the nearby country of Djibouti to protect them after their father was killed.
Mo explained that a woman visited him to observe him, before she took him to Europe to live in domestic servitude for her family.
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He said: “From day one, what the lady did wasn’t right. I wasn’t treated as part of the family. If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to look after those kids, shower them, cook for them, clean for them, and she said, ‘If you ever want to see your family again, don’t say anything or they will take you away.'”
“Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry,” the sports star added.
Mo was finally able to escape after he confided in his PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, about his situation.
He was placed with his school friend’s mum Kinsi Farah, where he lived happily for seven years.
The Olympian was reunited with his birth mother Aisha in 2000, after her friends in the community recognised him on TV.
The four-time Olympic gold medallist married his wife Tania Nell in 2010, with whom he shares four children – including Hussein Mo Farah, who he named in honour of his roots.
‘The Real Mo Farah’ airs on BBC One on July 13, at 9pm.
