The real Mo Farah, who is a cheerful student has a dream of meeting his famous namesake in the UK.
The 39-year-old from Turkey told The Sun that it would be ‘amazing’ to go to the UK. He also added: “Can you help me get there? I would like to meet Mo Farah.”
The Sun revealed that the real Mohamed Farah was born into poverty in Mogadishu, Somalia. He travelled to Turkey two years go and would like to live in the UK in the future.
Since Sir Mo revealed his true story about his life in a BBC documentary on Wednesday, Mohamed said he has been receiving a lot of messages from all around the world.
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He told The Sun: “It has been crazy. People have been calling me and messaging me — friends and media from all over the world.”
Mohamed decided to speak out after Sir Mo revealed he took another child’s identity when he was trafficked to the UK.
It is believed that Mohamed is a student at the Istanbul Aydin University, which specialises in science and technology courses.
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He also shared a £2 a day accommodation with fellow students from Sudan, Yemen Syria and Afghanistan.
A local shopkeeper said: “He is a very nice, very polite man, always has time to talk and tell you about his day.”
“Who knew that all this time his name was being used by a famous runner in England?”
One of the students said Mohamed recently moved out as he found bigger accommodation two months ago.
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A student said: “Mohamed is a lovely guy, he was very popular in the dormitory, always smiling. It’s mainly foreign students here, it’s very cheap.”
“Mohamed was definitely very excited about going to England and would talk about that a lot. That was his dream.”
When Mohamed was just a child, his mother moved him to Nairobi, Kenya after his dad left.
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It has been revealed by a family source that he reunited with his father in 2019 and lived with him before moving to Turkey in 2020.
The source said: “Mo is having to take a big chance to get the life he deserves.”
“He has never expressed any bitterness about his situation but the family feels very bad for him. He was left to fend for himself in Africa while another child went to a nice school in London and was given so many opportunities by using his name.”
Double Olympic champion Sir Mo was asked whether Mohamed could come to the UK. Sir Mo replied: “I will try my best to make that happen.”
Topics: Athletics
Marcus Chan