Team GB icon Sir Mo Farah is set to play a key role at this weekend’s London Marathon
Sir Mo Farah will take on an honorary role as a starter at the London Marathon this Sunday, April 26. Britain’s greatest endurance runner ever will send the 59,000 participants on their way as they race from Blackheath to The Mall.
The Team GB hero retired from professional distance running in September 2023, having run the 26.2 miles in his home city for the fourth and final time in April of the same year. The four-time Olympic gold medallist, 43, never won the event but secured a third-place finish in 2018.
Yet, he thrived over slightly shorter distances, winning Olympic gold in each of the 5,000m and 10,000m events at both London 2012 and Rio 2016. Now, Mirror Sport takes a look at Sir Mo’s life beyond his formidable running prowess.
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Sir Mo Farah’s net worth
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Sir Mo is thought to have raked in millions of pounds a year during his prime. But even after hanging up his spikes in September 2023, he is still worth a considerable amount of money.
He has boosted his personal fortune through a number of high-profile endorsement deals and sponsorship arrangements, signing deals with the likes of Nike, Huawei, Virgin Media and Quorn. The four-time Olympic champion has also worked with Lucozade, Bupa, Save the Children and B&M, amongst others.
In total, Sir Mo is thought to have a net worth of around £3.75million, though some estimates suggest it could be as high as £5m.
Sir Mo Farah’s real name
Farah shot to fame at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 as he achieved a historic double on the track, winning 10,000m gold on ‘Super Saturday’ before topping the podium again in the 5,000m. He repeated the remarkable feat in Rio four years later, defending his title in both events to cement his status as one of the finest Olympians Great Britain has ever produced.
Yet, a decade after his meteoric rise to stardom in London, Sir Mo stunned the world when he revealed the truth about how he arrived in Britain in a bombshell documentary, telling viewers: “I’m not who you think I am”.
The father-of-four, who was born in Somaliland, admitted he was brought into the country illegally under another child’s name, with his actual name being Hussein Abdi Kahin.
In the BBC documentary – titled The Real Mo Farah – the national treasure revealed his father was killed in the civil war in Somaliland when he was just four years old, before he was taken to the UK.
“Most people know me as Mo Farah but its not my name or it’s not the reality,” he said. “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. When I was four my dad was killed in the civil war [and] 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.”
Sir Mo’s bombshell admission
After years of hiding it, Sir Mo added that having children had motivated him to reveal the truth about his past, as he explained: “Family means everything to me and as a parent, you always teach your kids to be honest, but I feel like I’ve always had that private thing where I could never be me and tell what’s really happened.
“I’ve been keeping it for so long, its been difficult because you don’t want to face it and often my kids ask questions, ‘Dad, how come this?’ And you’ve always got an answer for everything, but you haven’t got an answer for that.
“That’s the main reason I’m telling my story because I want to feel normal and… don’t feel like you’re holding on to something.”
Sir Mo Farah’s wife
Farah has been married to his wife Tania Neill since 2010, having first met at school when they were 12 and 11 years old, respectively. While they were initially just friends and lost touch after leaving school, the pair later reconnected through Facebook and began dating, with their relationship blossoming from there.
“He was always smiling, that’s what stood out about Mo,” Neill told the BBC as she recalled her first impression of her future husband. “Amongst the groups of grumpy teenagers, Mo was always happy go lucky.”
The couple have had three children together – with twins Aisha and Amani born in 2012 and a son, Hussein, born in 2015 – while Neill has an older daughter, Rihanna from a previous relationship.
However, Sir Mo has previously spoken out about how he treats Rihanna like his own child, telling GQ: “It upsets me when people say she’s my stepdaughter. She is not.”
He even dedicated his 10,000m gold at Rio 2016 to his daughter, taking to Instagram to write: “Oh my days….!! I did it for Rhianna.. My daughter!!! This is for my family.”