Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan

Heartbreaking reason Mo Farah kept his secret for so long and what name he will use now

After hiding the truth for 30 years, Sir Mo Farah has bravely decided to reveal the heartbreaking true story about his start in life.

The Olympic hero, who was born Hussein Abdi Kahin, was actually smuggled over to the UK from his native Somaliland by traffickers when he was just nine-years-old.

"There's something about me you don't know. A secret I've been hiding since I was a child," reveals the athlete in tonight's BBC documentary, The Real Mo Farah.

He continues: "The truth is I'm not who you think I am. And now, whatever the cost, I need to tell my real story.

"I feel like I've always had that private thing where I could never be me and tell what's really happened."

One of the first people that Mo told a girl at his school, Tania, who would go on to become his wife and mother of their kids.

(PA)

Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here .

"Despite what I've said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK," says Mo, who explains his father was tragically killed in the late 1980s.

"When I was four, my dad was killed in the civil war. As a family we were torn apart. I was separated from my mother and brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child."

Mo's mother believed it was too dangerous for her sons and sent the gold medal winner and his twin brother Hassan to live with their uncle in neighbouring Djibouti.

However, Mo was then separated from his twin and taken to the UK in 1993 by a woman who used false documents with the name 'Mo Farah'.

The woman, who did not respond when asked to appear in the documentary, threatened Mo to stop him telling anyone the truth and forced him to work in domestic servitude.

Mo went on to become one of the nation's greatest ever Olympians and was knighted by the Queen in 2017 for his service to athletics.

He spent many years telling a different story about how he arrived in the UK in order to protect himself - but now wants to "feel normal" rather than "holding on to something".

Mo is an Olympic hero (PA)

"I don't think I was ready to say anything," he admits in the documentary. "Not because you want to lie but because you're protecting yourself.

"I think you only realise later on down the line, it's ok to let things out and say how it happened."

Mo is known for his positive energy and outlook on life, so it was hard to come to the realisation that he was trafficked.

"I never like to see anything bad. I like to have a positive spin," he tells wife Tania. "But with this I think I was trafficked."

He adds: "The hardest thing is admitting to myself that someone from my own family may have been involved in trafficking me.

"I think that thought has been at the back of my mind for a long time but ive never spoken about any of it until now."

At the end of the documentary, it is revealed: "Mo will continue to use the name he has been known by since he arrived in the UK as a child."

Mo and his wife Tania look through his paperwork (PA)

When Mo's teachers and social services realised the conditions he was living in, Kinsi agreed to take him in as she was the mum of one of his Somali schoolfriends.

During the documentary, Mo visits Kinsi, who he affectionately calls 'aunt' because she is the one person who took him in, but she is not actually related to him.

She is in fact the sister-in-law of the woman who brought him to the UK - and Mo is determined to get some answers from her.

"I lost contact with Kinsi. Maybe because part of me wanted not to know what went on. I've been hiding this for over 20 years," he admits.

Kinsi explains that her brother went to the aiport to pick up his wife and his children, but realised that Mo was there in place of his actual son.

The woman told her husband and Kinsi that Mo's whole family had died and he had no one else.

"We all felt sorry for you and we gave you love and accepted you for who you are," says Kinsi, who realised that a young Mo was not happy and tried to find out why.

Mo with his mother Aisha during the filming in Somaliland (PA)

Kinsi, who became aware that the woman was treating Mo appalingly, adds: "She didn't bring you as a human being to help you."

The documentary also sees Mo speak to Alan Watkinson, the hero PE teacher who helped save him, as well as his mother and brothers when he travels back to Somaliland.

But one of the most poignant moments comes when Kinsi reveals she is in contact with the real Mo Farah - and both Mos get to speak on a video call.

Sir Mo says: "I carry your name and for many, many years, im proud of what i have achieved. as a person I always wonder where's Mohamed, is he okay, what would life have been like for him?

"I think about it all the time and in person I just wanted to get in touch and to see how you’re doing. Are you happy? Do you have family, do you have kids, you married?"

The other Mo says he has seen the athlete running on TV and says he would love to come to the UK to meet in person.

The real Mo says: "It's OK, you're still my brother. ok bye bye brother. I will wait for you."

* The Real Mo Farah airs tonight on BBC One at 9pm

Do you have a story to share? Email webfeatures@trinitymirror.com

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.