Sir Mo Farah has revealed the truth about his youth as a child trafficked to the UK from Somaliland in a new BBC documentary. The Real Mo Farah will air on BBC One on Wednesday July 13 at 9pm, and on BBC iPlayer at 6am.
The hour-long BBC documentary will focus on how Mo was brought to the UK as a nine-year-old child and poorly treated as a “servant” for another family. The Olympic medallist said: “There’s something about me you don’t know. It’s a secret that I've been hiding since I was a child.”
In the one-off documentary, the long distance runner reveals that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he grew up during the Somali civil war. He shares that his father was killed in the civil war when he was four years old leaving his family “torn apart”.
Mo, 39, has four children with his wife Tania Nell, and won two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics. He was knighted in 2013.
The Home Office has reassured Sir Mo that “no action” will be taken against him after he revealed he’s an illegal immigrant. A spokesperson told The Mirror: "No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo.”
In the documentary Mo’s mother Aisha talks to the camera about reconnecting with her son after more than 10 years apart. She said: “I had a motherly urge to find him, and I was made aware he was in the UK.”
During the documentary, Sir Mo revisits the shack in Djibouti where he lived with his uncle. He says: "The hardest thing is admitting to myself that someone from my own family may have been involved in trafficking me."
Mo made the decision to stop hiding the truth after 30 years because he wants to "feel normal", he shares. He adds that he’d felt as if he was "holding on to something".
The Real Mo Farah will air at 6am on BBC iPlayer and 9pm on BBC One on July 13.
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