Sir Mo Farah: Shares he was trafficked to the UK as a child

Olympic medallist Sir Mo Farah has shared his story.

Sir Mo Farah has shared that he was trafficked illegally to the UK as a child and forced to work as a servant.

In a special interview, the Olympic legend told the BBC that he was taken from Djibouti in east Africa, when he was about eight or nine-years-old, and flown to the UK by someone he'd never met.

He was given fake travel documents, and told his name was now Mohamed Farah. His real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.

When he arrived in the UK he was forced to work as a servant, cleaning and taking care of children and didn't attend school on a regular basis, sometimes missing months at a time.

He previously said he came to the UK from Somalia with his family as a refugee. Sir Mo says he wants to tell his story to raise awareness and challenge people's thoughts about trafficking and slavery.

What is trafficking?

According to the NSPCC, trafficking is a crime where children and young people are tricked, forced or persuaded to leave their homes, and are then moved or transported, and either forced to work for little or no money, forced to marry someone against their will, or even forced to commit crimes like stealing.

Sometimes children are sold to a trafficker by a family member or someone they know or trust. They might give them false promises of an education or a "better" life.

However in reality trafficked children can be held in poor conditions without enough food, shelter or clothing, and are banned from contacting their families.

This can have a serious impact on the child's mental and physical health, and their access to education.

Child trafficking can happen because of: inequalities between countries, such as different education or work opportunities, poverty, or war.

Around the world, it is thought around 1.2 million children are affected by trafficking at any given time.

According to information from the UK government and National Referral Mechanism, around 5,468 children were the victims of trafficking in the UK in 2021.

There are international laws in place to protect children from trafficking, and punish traffickers, as well as laws like the Modern Slavery Act in England and Wales, and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sir Mo's story

Sir Mo won gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games

After Sir Mo was flown to the UK as a child by his trafficker, he says he arrived in a flat in London where the contact information he had with his family's details on was taken away from him.

"Right in front of me, she ripped it up and put it in the bin. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble," he says.

Sir Mo says he had to do housework and childcare and the woman with him said: "If you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything."

A fake document, showing Sir Mo's photo next to the name "Mohamed Farah", was used to bring him into the UK

Sir Mo said that for the first few years the family didn't allow him to go to school, but when he was about 12 he was allowed to go into Year 7 at Feltham Community College.

Sir Mo's PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed how much Mo loved running "The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport," he says.

Sir Mo says sport was a lifeline for him as "the only thing I could do to get away from this [living situation] was to get out and run".

He eventually felt confident enough to tell Mr Watkinson about his true identity, what was happening to him at home.

Sir Mo Farah was smuggled to the UK as a child

The PE teacher contacted social services and helped Sir Mo to be fostered by a family of Somali background.

"I still missed my real family, but from that moment everything got better," Sir Mo says.

"I felt like a lot of stuff was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt like me. That's when Mo came out - the real Mo."

Mr Watkinson helped him to apply for British citizenship under the name Mohamed Farah, which was granted in July 2000.

A few years later, Mo was able to get back in contact with his mother, and two brothers, and arranged to meet them, bringing his son named Hussein with him.

Sir Mo was reunited with his mother, Aisha, through a woman in London's Somali community

Mo said he wanted to share his story to help raise awareness of trafficking: "I had no idea there was so many people who are going through exactly the same thing that I did. It just shows how lucky I was," he says.

"What really saved me, what made me different, was that I could run."

The Home Office told BBC News it would not investigate Sir Mo even though he was brought to the country illegally.

Sir Mo said he was relieved: "This is my country. If it wasn't for [my PE teacher] Alan and the people who supported me throughout my childhood then maybe I wouldn't even have the courage to do this.

"There's a lot of people that I owe my life to - particularly my wife, who has been very supportive throughout my career, and who gave me the strength to come and talk about it, telling me it's okay to do this."

If anything in this story upset you, you can take a look at our guide here.