A 39-year-old man living in Turkey is claiming to be the ‘real’ Mo Farah after the four-time Olympic champion revealed in a BBC documentary that he was brought to the UK illegally under the name of another child.
In the documentary titled The Real Mo Farah, the Olympics hero said he was born as Hussein Abdi Kahin and assumed his new name when he was brought to Britain from Somalia following the death of his father.
He was later helped to obtain UK citizenship by his school PE teacher Alan Watkinson, while still using the name Mohamed Farah.
Farah says in the documentary: “I often think about the other Mohamed Farah, the boy whose place I took on that plane and I really hope he’s OK.
“Wherever he is, I carry his name and that could cause problems now for me and my family. The important thing is for me to just be able to say, ‘Look, this is what’s happened,’ and just being honest, really.”
According to a report on MailOnline, the ‘real’ Mohamed Farah is studying at a university in Istanbul after moving to Turkey two years ago with the dream of living in the UK.
“Mohamed has struggled for all these years in silence, knowing that someone else was achieving things he could only dream about while using his name,” a relative said.
“He was left to fend for himself in Africa, while this other boy was given so many opportunities in London. It’s incredible but he doesn’t seem bitter. For the most part, he refuses to talk about what happened.
“But he is hoping he can move to a country in Europe soon. He doesn’t care where as long as it’s safe and he can get a job. He has always dreamed of living in London.”
In the documentary, the Briton said there were a lot of people he “owed my life to “ and that had given him the “strength” to talk about his past.
The Home Office has confirmed there are no plans to take action against Farah. A Number 10 spokesman said of the Olympic champion: “He is a sporting hero, he is an inspiration to people across the country.
“It is a shocking reminder of the horrors that people face when they are trafficked. And we must continue to clamp down on these criminals who take advantage of vulnerable people.”
