Mo Farah’s Fairytale

Home stars are always under pressure to perform at every Olympics. As far as the expectations go,  the British public’s hopes from Mo Farah were perhaps second only to that from Jessica Ennis. First,  he was supposed to do something, no British athlete had done before- win the Olympics 10,000 metres. Once that was done, the expectations soared more – the double of 5,000 & 10,000.

Only a day before the men’s 5,000, the hot favourite Ethiopian Dibaba failed to complete her double by finishing third in the women’s 5,000. But Farah, as in the 10,000, ran a planned race. With the 80,000 people in the Olympic stadium on their feet, he was in full gear towards the end of the race and broke the tape to complete the historic feat.

The Mohammad Farah story is an inspirational tale. A Muslim, he was born in 1983, in Somalia, a country ridden with civil war and stricken with poverty. He arrived in UK when only eight.  His precocious talent was spotted in his West London school. Soon, he was achieving success. At the age of 14, he had won his first British school title.  Victory at the 5,000 metres at the European Junior championship in 2001 was his first major international title.  He was one of the early athletes to join the newly established Endurance Performance Centre at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham.  Then he decided to become a full-time athlete and joined a group of Kenyans in London including Micah Kogo,  the world no 1 at 10,000 metres.  At the senior level,  Farah got himself noticed internationally by finishing second in the 5,000 metres at the 2006 European Championship and later that year he had his first continental title: the European Cross Country Championships.  However, the double of 5,000 & 10,000 at the European Championships of 2010 really catapulted him to a star; the first British and only the fifth man in the history to achieve the feat.

Always on look out for better training, in early 2011, Mo Farah moved to Oregan, USA to join the stable of the famous American coach Alberto Salazar.  The move immediate paid dividends, the slim British Somali stole the  show at the 2011 World championships in South Korea. After being narrowly beaten to silver in the 10,000, he attained another British first by winning the 5,000 metres.  All this meant the athletics world in general and the British people in particular looked for an even better show at the 2012 Olympics in his home territory.

And he rose to the occasion.

Apart from Usain Bolt, Mo Farah was the only one to win two individual golds in track and field at the 2012 Olympics.      His feat is easily the best ever Olympic achievement by a British in distance running.  A practising  Muslim, Farah is an ardent supporter of Muslim Writers Awards.  Last year, he married Tania Nell in London. The wedding was attended by a number of distinguished British track and field stars. He has a step daughter from this relationship and the couple are expecting twin daughters in September.

The Olympic 2012 provided many everlasting images. One of the most memorable was Farah thanking the Almighty by prostrating on the track after each of his two great victories.