Mo Farah names Team GB star that now has 'huge opportunity' to follow in his Olympic footsteps
Sir Mo Farah is tackling a brand-new challenge in his retirement from athletics - just as he is tipping a current Team GB star to have a career-changing opportunity in just under two years' time.
Farah has teamed up with Buxton and the mental health charity Mind to launch the 'Talking Laces' campaign, which aims to highlight the importance of movement and hydration for both physical and mental health.
The laces themselves, blue in colour, are limited-edition and are intended to act as a wearable signal that somebody is open to talk or listen about their mental health. New research conducted by Buxton has shown that 45 per cent of UK adults are more likely to open up about their mental health while exercising.
"For me, I've been an amazing athlete over the years, and throughout my life I've always learned tools and things that you could do to get a better result of yourself," Farah tells SPORTbible about the campaign. "I've had an amazing career and having retired, it is so important for me to be able to educate people, and when Buxton and Mind came in with a campaign, I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it.'
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"50 per cent of British adults don't even have a conversation and it's so hard to have that conversation with people - even with myself, my own story. It's so important to relieve them, and 65 per cent of people feel, once they've had that conversation, they can go, 'I can feel better. I can'. It's about making it as easy as possible.
"This campaign is about being able to show that these things exist. And for me and you to have a conversation head on, right now, it's difficult. But side-to-side, we can. And it's being able, with this campaign, to say, 'Listen, if you see somebody with this blue lace, that means you can have a conversation, side-by-side, and talk about it'. It's making it as easy as possible for people, because we know these things exist. And you'd be surprised at the amount of people who don't drink enough, don't hydrate themselves."
'It's a huge opportunity...' - Mo Farah tips next Team GB track star at LA28 Olympics
Farah is the greatest British track athlete of all time when it comes to Olympic medals won. He claimed four Olympic gold medals across 5,000 and 10,000 metres, and still holds the British record over the latter distance. The 43-year-old won the Sports Personality of the Year award and is, of course, now a knight of the realm.
He has previously spoken openly about his early-life experiences and the hurdles he had to overcome just to make it to professional athletics, never mind compete for world and Olympic titles. But just like everybody else who has climbed to the very top of their sport, there was a moment where everything clicked into place.
"When you finish school, you get yourself a job and you study, you go to uni, and it's like, 'What's next?'," he recalls. "I went to uni and from that moment, I saw my opposition, the guys who were winning. And that mindset of going, 'If I'm living the life like this, going out with my mates, PlayStation, I'm not applying at 110 per cent, how am I going to have any chance and against these guys?'
"And I think that was that moment you go, 'I want to become like them. How do I need to do it?' And applying yourself for this thing. Going to training camp 8,000 feet above sea level, spending your time with a 'train, eat, sleep, train [mentality]'. That's what I had to do, and I think that was the biggest thing I had to change in my life."
Farah sees those qualities in George Mills, Team GB's current best men's medal hope over 5,000 metres. Mills is part of a footballing family; his father Danny played for Manchester City and England, and his brother Stanley came through Everton's youth academy before signing for Oxford United and then his current club Preston North End.
But George went down a different sporting path, and the 27-year-old from Harrogate reached the Olympic final over 5,000 metres at Paris 2024. He was tipped as a medal hope at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, but suffered an injury flare-up during the final and ultimately finished in last place. The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, though, could be a very different story.
"It's a huge opportunity," Farah says of Mills' chances in LA. "He's got what it takes, but with all the athletes, it's giving yourself that chance.
"And I think with George Mills, I've never seen anyone like him who applies everything, you know. If you look back, I think he's always at training camp, he's always working, he's very focused. And, again, it's just giving yourself that best chance."
"We can talk about it with Josh Kerr, breaking the world record," he adds of Mills' fellow Team GB star, who broke the mile world record at the London Diamond League meeting in July after targeting that specific event for a year. "What inspires me is the younger generation applying that, and doing what you did, because when I did it [broke records], most people thought, 'How does he do that? How does he keep doing that?'
"He [Kerr] is a different athlete. He's quite serious, and when he gets down to it or he sets his mind to something, that's him. Some people like that, some people don't like it, but that's his personality.
"In terms of his credibility and what he's done, you have to give it to him. And I was impressed, because you could easily go, 'You know what, I don't want to have that much pressure. I don't want to tell it a year in advance, that I'm going to do it on this date'. It's mind-blowing, right? And then to do it on the day, no matter what the conditions... wow."
Kerr is one of the favourites to win this year's Sports Personality of the Year award, alongside fellow Team GB star Amy Hunt - who won gold in all four races she competed in at the European Championships - and Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane. In 2024, the award was lifted by Olympic and European 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson.
Farah thinks both Kerr and Hunt have a 'good chance' in the Sports Personality voting this year: "It's just up to the public to vote on that day and make the difference, right? That's all it comes down to."
Mo Farah on I'm A Celebrity - and what 2026 contestants can expect
Farah is still breaking new ground in retirement. He has appeared twice on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, and is one of only two people - former Diversity star Jordan Banjo being the other - to finish in the top three of the voting on his second attempt after missing out on the podium the first time around.
Farah's second attempt was the now infamous South Africa series earlier this year, where the live final was overshadowed by the fallout from Jimmy Bullard and Adam Thomas' bust-up - which later involved David Haye - in a pre-recorded episode.
"I probably enjoyed the one in South Africa more than I did the one in the castle, because it was cold and raining!" he says. "It's the tools that you learn as a young boy, or from a story in my early life, that you apply to it, and I think you can learn a lot.
"You can learn to get on with one another, you can learn to do things out of your comfort zone. All these people are out of their comfort zone. You haven't got everything you have at home, so it's great entertainment for TV. But I really enjoyed it."
He will be looking on from home this time around as Wayne Rooney, Joanna Page, Leigh Francis and co tackle the Australian jungle: "I'm quite looking forward to watching this year - I'm sure they will have wonderful stories and things that they've done to get to the level they have."
Buxton Mineral Water and mental health charity Mind have partnered with Sir Mo Farah to launch Talking Laces - shoe laces which act as a wearable cue that the wearer is open to talking or listening. The campaign highlights the importance of movement and hydration for both physical and mental health.
Ryan Smart
