Mo Farah (born Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah) is a track and field legend. Farah cemented his place among all time greats in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro when he completed the coveted “double double” of winning back to back 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic gold medals.
Farah was born as a twin in Somalia on March 23, 1983. He would spend several childhood years in a refugee camp in Djibouti before moving permanently to London at age eight. His twin brother got very sick just before the family moved to London and was left with a family that agreed to look after him until he recovered. Farah’s family lost contact with this family and were not able to track his twin brother down for twelve years.
Farah’s childhood dream was to become a motor mechanic or a right winger for London’s Arsenal Football Club. His path was altered in school when a Physical Education teacher identified his athletic talent and encouraged him to take his running more seriously.
Farah became a global track superstar at the London Olympics in 2012 when he won gold medals in the 10,000m and 5,000m in front of his home crowd. In the 5,000m final, the stadium was so loud as he ran that the photo finish camera was shaking and it captured blurry images. It was a special night that may have made him a bigger 2012 olympic star than even Usain Bolt.
He would repeat the feat four years later in Rio de Janeiro and cement his place among the all time greats.
His achievements were so incredible that he was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in November 2017 and is now known in Britain as Sir Mo Farah.
His is an outstanding story of an ‘Outsider Rising’ from very difficult life beginnings to leave an indelible mark on the world through sport.
Until next time… ✌🏾
Munatsi
Twitter: @Munatsi_
Twitter: @OutsiderRising