Olympic hero Sir Mo Farah has revealed his dad was killed during Somalia's civil war when he was just four years old after a bazooka rocket exploded and the shrapnel "hit him on the head".
In his new BBC documentary 'The Real Mo Farah', the four-time Olympic gold medallist opened up about his life, revealing he had in fact been illegally trafficked to the UK at the age of nine and forced to work as a servant.
And in the documentary being aired tonight on BBC One at 9pm, Farah also revealed his father died amid civil war conflict in Somalia before he was trafficked into the country. His dad, Abdi, tragically was killed while tending to his cattle on the farm where the family lived.
"I've got some good memories at Somaliland," Farah said. At first, we lived in the farm with my father. My father's name was Abdi.
"It was very basic, just a farm. All I remember clearly is just being with my loved ones - my mum and dad, my brothers, sisters, my twin brother Hassan - and being their family.
"When I was four - I was just a kid - but we were just out in the farm, a normal day. My dad went to look after cattle, and never came back.
"Due to civil war happening between the north and the south, there were a lot of people fighting where he was and there was a massive bazooka shot. It hit the ground, flew into pieces and one piece hit him on the head.
"At that point, that was it - our life was changed and it changed all of us. To me, the hardest thing is, until this day, I don't even know what he looked like."
Farah's wife Tania added: "I think Mo himself hadn't really accepted what had happened to him growing up. The death - the murder, even - of your father and the circumstances of your family being torn apart and you being sent across the world. But he just wasn't ready and he was able instead to just channel all of that pent-up emotion into his running."
