Sir Mo Farah is allegedly being hounded for money by the man whose name he took.
The athlete revealed in a BBC documentary in 2022 that he was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child.
The man, also called Mo Farah, is allegedly demanding money from the Olympic champion, forcing him to change his phone number, The Sun reported.
The pair were united on the documentary titled The Real Mo Farah, where Sir Mo tracked his namesake down to Istanbul where he was studying.
But now the relationship has broken down over the alleged money demands, the paper reported, with the man, based in Somalia, claiming Sir Mo had not kept a promise to help him obtain a UK visa.
A source told The Sun: “Sir Mo has sympathy. This man was also a casualty of events out of his control as a child. But it is not Mo’s responsibility.
“The people who were adults and responsible for them clearly didn’t do their jobs properly.
“But it certainly wouldn’t be appropriate for Mo to use his influence on any UK immigration policy or process. Quite the opposite.”
The source said contact had ceased in the summer because the other Mo was demanding money when he saw pictures of Sir Mo’s sponsorship deals on social media.
But speaking to the publication from his home in Mogadishu, the other Mo said: “Mo got what he wanted and now he doesn’t care whether I live or die.
“He made a lot of promises and said he would stop using my name and give me my name back.
“He told me he wanted to stop living a lie, but he is still living a lie.
“He said he would help me get a tourist visa so I could visit my mum in England, but I’ve spent two years waiting and nothing has happened.”
Sir Mo revealed in the documentary that he was trafficked to the UK from Somalia on a child’s passport and was given the name Mo Farah by those who trafficked him.
When he was eight or nine, Sir Mo was taken to stay with family in Djibouti, a country which shares a border with Somalia, before being taken to the UK.
The long-distance runner lived in Hounslow, west London, where he was forced to do housework and childcare in exchange for food
He revealed that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin, but he applied for British citizenship under his namesake, and has gone by that name since.
