Sir Mo Farah comes face to face with the “real” Mo Farah in a new documentary about his life.
The man he is speaking to over Zoom admits he is also a Arsenal fan, but can’t run as fast.
Mo - who assumed his namesake’s identity upon entering the country in 1993 - tells him in an extraordinary video call: “I can't believe that I'm speaking to you.
"I carry your name and for many, many years - 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?”
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The real Mohamed, speaking from Somalia, tells him not yet and asks if he’s ever seen him run.
“I saw you running on television!” laughs his namesake, who admits that he’s no good at it himself.
But asked if he likes football he tells Sir Mo: “I’m an Arsenal fan.”
Asked if he is allowed to travel to the UK, Mohamed replies: “I don't think so. I would love to come to the UK.”
Mo tells him that he’ll do everything he can to get him here: “I would personally like to meet you. I will try my best to make that happen.”
Mohamed laughs: “You can try man.”
“I just wanna say one thing to you, thank you so much. I use your name. I came here as a child and I just wanna say thank you. It’s been hard, difficult," Mo tells Mohamed.
Smiling, Mohamed tells him: “It’s okay, you're still my brother.”
His aunt Kinsi, who took in Mo as a teen and gave him a happy home life for seven years, says: “Bless him.”
Afterwards Mo is moved by how relaxed the other Mo was with him. “I don't even know what to say,” he declared.
“It felt amazing. I didn't get the answer that I was looking for - why was I bought over here.
"I still don't know, but most importantly for me today, the answer I got, that relief, from Mohamed saying ‘you're still my brother’. I couldn't ask for a better thing.”
There was more good news this morning as the Home Office announced that no action will be taken despite Sir Mo’s revelation that he was brought to the UK illegally as a nine-year-old child.
Home Office guidance assumes that a child is not complicit in gaining citizenship by deception.
A spokesman said: "No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo."
Following the announcement of the documentary, Sir Mo tweeted: "Through this documentary I have been able to address and learn more about what happened in my childhood and how I came to the UK. I'm really proud of it and hope you will tune in on Weds to watch."
Celebrities including Judi Love and David Baddiel were among those to voice their support for the athlete, describing him as a "hero" who has made people "proud to be British".
Labour MP Yvette Cooper tweeted: "This is incredible bravery. Unimaginable what Mo Farah has been through. Child trafficking is the worst of crimes.
"His courage & strength in speaking out must be an urgent spur for much stronger action to help all those affected & to stop this terrible crime."
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi praised Sir Mo as a "truly inspirational" role model.
Asked how it made him feel reading Sir Mo's story, the Tory leadership hopeful told BBC Breakfast: "Heartbroken, painful. I was very lucky that I had my parents with me when we fled Iraq.
"It was difficult, no doubt - I was 11 years old, I didn't understand why we were fleeing Saddam Hussein, I knew he was a dictator, I knew he was bad.
"All I can say is I salute Mo Farah, what an amazing human being, to go through that trauma in childhood and to come through it and be such a great role model is truly inspirational - and exemplary."
Lisa Nandy, shadow secretary of state for levelling up, said the athlete's decision to speak out could be a "gamechanger".
"I spent a decade working with children who were trafficked to the UK and everything about this is heartbreaking," she wrote.
"But it could also be a gamechanger so thank you @Mo-Farah for having the courage to speak out."
Comedian Baddiel shared a picture of the pair, writing: "Whether he's Sir Mo Farah or Hussein Abdi Kahin he's a hero."
Comedian and presenter Love added: "You just never know what someone is carrying."
*The Real Mo Farah will air on BBC1 on Wednesday at 9pm
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