Star British Olympian Mo Farah hailed as ‘truly inspirational’ after revealing he was trafficked

Rather than moving to the UK as a refugee from Somalia with his parents as previously claimed, Farah said he came from Djibouti aged eight or nine with a woman he had never met, was given a false identity, and then made to look after another family’s children

Mo Farah

Olympic great Mo Farah won praise from across Britain’s political spectrum on Tuesday after the shock revelation that he was illegally trafficked as a child to the country and forced to work in domestic servitude.

The 39-year-old distance runner, one of Britain’s best-loved and most successful athletes, told a BBC documentary that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. Rather than moving to the UK as a refugee from Somalia with his parents as previously claimed, Farah said he came from Djibouti aged eight or nine with a woman he had never met, was given a false identity, and then made to look after another family’s children.

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Finance minister and Conservative leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi said Farah remained “truly inspirational.” Zahawi, whose Kurdish family fled Iraq for Britain when he was 11, told BBC TV that hearing Farah reveal his life story made him feel “heartbroken, painful.” Lisa Nandy, a senior member of the opposition Labour party, said Farah’s decision to speak out could be a “gamechanger” for other victims of trafficking.

London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Everything Sir Mo has survived proves he’s not only one of our greatest Olympians but a truly great Briton.”

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