Share on Facebook
Mo Farah, a British distance runner, is the European record holder for the 1500 m, 10,000 m, half marathon and two miles. Here are 50 interesting facts about the world famous athlete:
- Farah is a middle distance runner of repute in 5000 and 10000 meters. He also competes in 1,500 and marathon.
- Farah was born Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah on March 23th 1983 in Mogadishu, Somalia. He has a twin brother by name Hassan Farah.
- Farah’s father met his mother Aisha while on vacation to Djibouti. He has three brothers apart from Hassan, Ahmed, Wahib and Mahad.
- Farah spent his early childhood in Djibouti with his brother. He moved to Britain at the age of eight to join his father Mukhtar Farah, IT consultant.
- Farah entered Oriel Junior School in Hanworth in south of London. With very little knowledge of English, Farah made the mistake of saying “C’mon then” which landed him in fight.
- Farah’s physical teacher at Feltham Community College, Alan Watkinson, was the first to spot his sporting talent.
- Farah was a natural athlete. He became the best javelin thrower in his school. His ambition was to play football for Arsenal Football Club.
- Farah’s trust with destiny started, when he represented Hounslow at cross country in the London Youth Games.
- In 1996 at the age of 13, Farah represented his school in the English School Cross Country championship and finished creditable ninth. He went on to win five English school titles from next year onwards.
- Farah became naturalist British citizen, when philanthropist ‘Eddie Kulukundis’ paid for all the formalities. He was free to travel for competitions without visa issues.
- Farah moved over to ‘Hounslow Athletic Club’ to be coached by Conrad Milton. He wanted train along with Heyley Yelling, Benedict Whitby and Sam Haughian.
- With the help of Benedict Whitby, Farah was handed a special Nike Kit from Marketing Manager Dave Scott. He was mistaken to be a thief by a police officer seeing him lugging an enormous bag of Nike kit. A signed letter from Dave Scott saved him the day.
- By 2001 Farah moved to St. Mary’s University College to live and train. He is one of the two athletes to be selected for endurance performance test at the college.
- In July 2001 at ‘European Athletic Junior Championship’ in Grosseto, Italy, Farah won his major title. He won the Gold Medal in 5000 meters with the time of 14:09:91, beating ‘Bruno Saramago’ of Portugal.
- In 2005 Farah moved in with Craig Mottram, the Australian middle distance runner. He just wanted to be the best in the world. He trained with the bunch of Kenyan runners and cultivated their work ethics.
- On July 22, 2006, Farah set a time of 13:09:40 to be placed sixth in the KBC Night of Athletics, Heusden. His time was the second fastest by a British after Dave Moorcroft. Micah Kogo of Kenya won the Gold.
- On August 13, 2006 Farah won the silver medal in the European Athletics Championship held in Gothenburg, Sweden. He clocked a time of 13:44:79 behind Jesus Espana of Spain.
- On December 10, 2006, Farah won the 13th European Cross Country Championship, held at San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy. The 23 years old won in 27 mins 56 secs from Portugal‘s Fernando Silva.
- Farah participated in 2007 World Athletic Championship at Osaka, Japan in 5000 meters and qualified for the finals with his season’s best time of 13:39:13 in the heats. However he finished sixth in the finals.
- Farah participated in the 5000 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, only to be knocked out in the heats. Running in the heat 2 which was relatively slow, Farah timed 13:50:95 to be place fifth.
- In January, 2009 participating in the 3000 metres at ‘Aviva International Meet’ in Glasgow, set a new British record time of 7:40:99 seconds. He broke the record of John Mayock’s by 0.10 seconds.
- Farah rewrote his 3000 metres British record, while participating in ‘U.K Indoor Grand Prix’ in Birmingham on February, 2009. Farah produced a run of 7:34:47 second to beat Shedrack Korir of Kenya.
- Farah performance in the last two meet was hailed as “The best performance by a male distance runner in a generation.” After Beijing debacle, Farah spent the winter training at altitude of Ethiopia and Kenya.
- In March 2009, Farah won 3000 metres Gold medal at the ‘European Athletic Indoor Championship’ held at Turin, Italy. He set the time of 7:40:17 beating Bouabdellah Tahri of France.
- Farah competed in his first road competition in the ‘2009 Great South Run,’ held biennially at Portsmouth, United Kingdom. It was a 10 miles race, which Farah won with a time of 46:25, to set the third fastest British time.
- Farah missed the medal ceremony after he collapsed at the end of‘2009 European Cross Country Championship’ held at Dublim city of Ireland. He won the Silver medal behind Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain.
- Farah competing in the 10 km annual road running competition, the BOclassic of Bolzano, Italy in 2010 missed the Gold medal by 0.2 second to Imane Merga of Ethiopia.
- Farah being the favorite finished third in the short course at the ‘2010 Great Edinburgh International Cross Country’ race. He could not sustain the lead due to fatigue. He was diagnosed to be low on Iron and Magnesium.
- Farah’s emergence as world champion was evident in the ‘Bupa London 1000.’ He beat the world record holder, Micah Kogo by five second to clinch Gold medal with the time of 27:44 second.
- Farah announced his arrival in a big way in the ‘2010 European Athletic Championship’ in Spain. On July 27, Farah clinched Great Briton’s first European 10,000 m gold and also Farah’s major title. He crossed the line with a time of 28:24:99.
- Farah also won the 5000 m gold in the ‘2010 European Athletic Championship’ to became the fifth man in the history of European championship.
- On August 19, 2010, Farah rewrote the British record in the 5000 metres. He ran the race in 12:57:94 to break the record of David Moorcroft. He is first British runner to run 5000 m under 13 minutes.
- Farah was recognized for his achievement by the British Olympic Association. He was named as the ‘Track and Field Athlete of the Year 2010.’
- On January 08, 2011, Farah defeated the top four European finishers to win gold in the Long Corse at Edinburgh Cross Country race. His time of 25:41 was a meet record.
- In February 2011 Farah announced his decision to move to Port Land, Oregon in United States to train under Alberto Salazar in bid to enhance his Olympic ambitions.
- Farah’s new training schedule paid off when he won the 5000 metres at ‘Aviva Grand Prix,’ Brimingham on February 19, 2011. His time of 13:10:60 broke the European indoor record and 29 year old British record set by Nick Rose by 10 seconds.
- Farah’s good run continued in 2011. On March 05, 2011 he won gold in the 3000 metres at ‘2011 European Indoor Championship,’ with a time of 7:53:00.
- On March 20, 2011, Farah participated in the ‘New York Marathon,’ as a alternate for New Zealand 10000 m race cancelled due to earthquake. He won the Half Marathon with a time of 1:00:23.
- Within a span of one month, Farah set two British and a European record. On June 3, 2011 In the Diamond League at Eugene, Oregon, he won the 10000 m with a time of 26:46:57 for a new British and European record. On July 22, 2011 at Diamond Meet at Monaco, he won the 5000 m with a time of 12:53:11 for a new British record.
- Farah became the first British athlete to win medal in both 5000 and 10000 metres medal at a global meet. He won the silver in 10000 m and gold in the 5000 m at the 2011 World Athletic Championship in Daegu, South Korea.
- August 04, 2012, will be etched in Farah’s memory for years to come. On this day he won the 10,000 m gold in a time of 27:30:42 for his first Olympic medal. He also won the 5000 m and dedicated both the medals to his twin daughters.
- Farah was appointed ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ (CBE) in the 2013 New Year honors to athlete for their services. Farah had support from many quarters for higher accolade, probably knighthood.
- On July 19, 2013, when Farah ran the 1500 m in time of 3:28:81, he broke the 28 year old British record set by Steve Cram. He is also the only athlete to run sub 3:30 in 1500, sub 13 minute in 5000 and sub 27 minutes in the 10,000.
- Farah won the 10,000 m and 5000 m gold in the ‘2013 World Athletic Championship’ in Moscow. He became double World and Olympic champion. He was hailed as ‘Britain’s greatest ever athlete’ by Sebastian Coe and Brendan Foster.
- Farah looked up on to Usain Bolt’s record breaking streak as a motivational drive to keep pushing his accomplishment.
- Farah’s signature pose “Mobot” was first introduced in the sets of game show ‘A League of Their Own’ By Clare Balding. Farah himself used the pose to raise fund for his charity foundation.
- Farah married his longtime girlfriend Tania Nell in April, 2010 at Richmond, London. He is blessed with twin daughters Aisha and Amani. He also has a stepdaughter Rhianna.
- Farah is a big fan of Arsenal F.C and had indicated his desire to become its fitness coach on his retirement.
- Farah is philanthropist and has launched ‘Mo Farah Foundation.’ He participated in ITV’S game show ‘The Cube’ and won £ 250,000 for his foundation. He is the first person ever to win top prize on the show.
- Farah has number of endorsement deals worth £ 10 million and around £ 250,000 to £ 450,000 from exhibitions.
