Four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Mo Farah has revealed that he was trafficked to the United Kingdom as a child from Djibouti and forced to work as a domestic servant.
The 39-year-old - who was born Hussein Abdi Kahin in Somaliland - lost his father at the age of four when he was shot and killed in a civil war in Somalia.
Farah has now shockingly disclosed that he was flown to the UK illegally at the age of nine and was taken to a flat in London by a woman he had never met or seen before.
The woman allegedly told Farah that he would be staying with relatives in Europe, and he was ordered to use the name "Mohamed Farah".
Farah then witnessed the woman tear up a piece of paper with the athlete's family's contact details, and he was forced to provide cooking and cleaning services for the other children in the flat while also not being allowed to attend school.
"Most people know me as Mo Farah, but it's not my name or the reality. The real story is I was born in Somaliland, north of Somalia, as Hussein Abdi Kahin. Despite what I've said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK," Farah said in a documentary with BBC and Red Bull Studios.
© Reuters
"When I was four my dad was killed in the civil war, you know as a family we were torn apart. I was separated from my mother, and I was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mohamed Farah."
Farah then showed the visa document he was given to fly to the UK, which showed the athlete as a nine-year-old child after he was separated from his family.
"That is my photo but it's not my name. From that moment, coming in with a different name, different identity. I know I've taken someone else's place, and I do wonder, what is Mohamed doing now?" Farah added.
Not until the age of 12 would Farah be permitted to attend school, and he enrolled in Feltham Community College under false pretences that he was a refugee from Somalia.
Farah eventually disclosed his true identity to his P.E. teacher, who helped the Olympic champion escape his situation and be fostered by another Somali family.
The 39-year-old received British citizenship in 2000, and while the Home Office can revoke someone's nationality if it was obtained through fraud, Farah has been told that the risk of him losing his citizenship is low.
Farah began to demonstrate a talent for athletics as a teenager, and the Brit has since won four Olympic gold medals, six World titles and nine European crowns.
The BBC is said to have contacted the woman who trafficked Farah to the UK, but she has not responded.
