Mo Farah

[Kaz]

But he was trafficked! The Home Office have already stated no action will be taken. To say this diminishes his achievements is absurd.

[saundra]

He was only 4years old
Yet all the people who helped him become the citizen he is today never went to the press and sold his story which could have distroyed him
He is still my idol
It's the family who,made him a slave who should be prosecuted

[TheOstrich]

I would never denigrate Farah's achievements, charitable and sporting, or his childhood experiences, but I have always felt - not just in the light of today's revelations - that he was one of a long line of "sporting mercenaries", just like Basil D'Olivera and Pietersen in cricket, Vunipola in rugby union, and numerous other luminaries across the sporting board, right up to this last weekend's Ladies Open winner at Wimbledon.

Elena Rybakina is Russian born and only changed her nationality when she was 19 to become a Kazakhstani - they offered her more than the Americans, according to Wiki - and really she ought to have been banned from the tournament because of the Ukraine genocide.

I have a lot more sympathy for Farah following his revelations than I did - but I still wish he'd run under the Somali flag, not the UK one.

[TheOstrich]

It's the family who,made him a slave who should be prosecuted

The Met are said to be looking into it, Saundra, but don't hold your breath .....

[Suff]

But he was trafficked! The Home Office have already stated no action will be taken. To say this diminishes his achievements is absurd.

He may have been trafficked, but he knew he was illegal and even after he became a free adult; didn't regularise the situation. It is at that point that he, himself, broke the law. Regardless of trafficking or anything else, there was a legal requirement to report and get himself made legal.

All the things he did, all the achievements, all the good, all from a position of not reporting that he was illegal. I did say that I, personally, would not do anything to him. To add to that, I think what he has done is amazing and I'm just sorry that his history has come out in this way which appears to be an attempt to influence the illegal movement of people. In what way I don't know and I'll probably never know because I'm just glad he's safe and successful in his life.

But there are those who would summarily throw him out of the country just for that one action; no matter what good he did after.

That's all I'm trying to say.

[miasmum]

Changing the subject somewhat but if there is anyone who should hand an honour back it's Emma Radacanu. Nothing to do with nationality but purely because she hasn't earned it. It was awarded too soon and too lightly

[victor]

This is my whole point--- he isn't and never was Mo Farah which he now admits ,he should have come clean a long ago, or does it show kids that it's ok to cheat

[Kaz]

Ridiculous! Just who has he cheated? He still ran the races, raised loads of money for charity! The only thing different is his name.

I would hope what he is actually showing kids is that with hard work you can overcome anything, from the worst of starts.

[Workingman]

Imagine you are four years old living in a place that has been at civil war of one sort of another for decades; and one not recognised by the UN. Your father is murdered and your family ekes out a living on a smallholding / farm in the middle of nowhere.

At age nine you are abducted or sold or somehow or other removed and sent to Djibouti, a place unknown to you. Once there you are handed over to a woman you have never met and she gives you papers stating that you are now Mohammad Farah - you are warned to keep very quiet about this and tell no one - or else.

You are the flown to the UK and placed in a house in Hounslow where, still only nine, you become a carer for two younger children. You are not allowed out, do not attend school, have no friends, you just survive: you are effectively a slave.

At age 12 you somehow enrol in a school and once there something clicks with you and the PE teacher. You are good at sport and good at running, very good at running, and your lack of English skills and other formal education these are no barrier. After a while you are confident enough to tell him what is happening to you. Thankfully he listens and social services become involved; you are fostered by a Somali family. It was a t this point that he applied for, and got UK citizenshilp.

You then go on to represent your country, the UK, winning all sorts of medals and breaking records. You use your fame to do charity work raising money for vulnerable children. You get a knighthood.... but it is not enough, something is bugging you and eventually you let the world know - you were trafficked.

You would think people would understand, but no! Some paint you as the criminal, the lawbreaker, mastermind of all that befell you, and you did all of this before the age of 12. These people need to look at themselves and ask how they would have survived in the same circumstances. My guess is that they wouldn't and would be long gone.

[saundra]

Well said WM xx