Opinion – Marina Izidro: The story of a British athletics star raises awareness of victims of human trafficking

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“I’m not who you think I am.” So Mohamed Farah revealed in a BBC documentary the secret kept for 30 years. The case attracted attention not only because it involved the greatest Olympic medalist in the history of British athletics but because it was repeated, silently, with thousands.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Mo Farah won gold in track and field in the 5,000m and 10,000m. I remember the long strides, the wide eyes on arrival and the celebration with the arms in the shape of a heart. In Rio, in 2016, he was Olympic champion again in both events.

He became “sir” when he received a title of nobility from Queen Elizabeth II for services rendered to sport. I interviewed him in 2011 when she was a student at St Mary’s University, where I teach. The university has programs of excellence in running, and Mo trained there for years. He and his wife Tania were super attentive. I never forgot the attention they paid to that “mere” student.

He has always publicly said that he arrived in the UK with his parents at the age of eight as a refugee from Somalia. This week, in “The Real Mo Farah,” he revealed his true origins in a touching statement.

He was born in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, and his name was Hussein Abdi Kahin. His father died in the country’s civil war when he was four. At eight or nine he was separated from his mother and taken to London illegally by an unknown woman. When he arrived at immigration, the woman gave him a document with the name of another boy, Mohamed Farah, and said he would be called that from now on.

She then tore up the paper, and Mo was forced to work as a domestic servant to receive food. He had to clean, take care of the children. He would lock himself in the bathroom and cry, dreaming of being reunited with his family “somewhere, someday.” At school, teachers did not understand why the parents of the unruly student with poor English never showed up.

One cared: the physical education teacher, who saw in him a talent for running. Mo mustered up the courage and told him everything. A family adopted him, and life changed. As he needed to travel to compete and had no documentation, the professor helped him get British citizenship. He was reunited with his mother and twin brother. Today, he takes pictures of important moments because he doesn’t remember his father’s face. He named his son Hussein.

The case generates more empathy because the boy who grew up without a family and always carried the British flag with pride dealt with prejudice even at the height of his career. In 2012, he was the target of the Daily Mail’s distasteful campaign, which coined the term “plastic Brits” to designate British athletes who were not born in the country. A detail: the success at the Games at home was largely thanks to them, with a third of the medals won by those born in another country or children of non-British parents.

​Mo has spent his life in fear that his citizenship would be withdrawn by fraud because he used someone else’s name without even knowing it. Authorities have already said they will not do anything.

The revelation generates debate, as the government has tightened immigration policy and wants to deport to Rwanda those who normally seek refuge fleeing wars or in risky situations. An expert says in the film that 10,000 people were potential victims of human trafficking in the UK last year and that the actual number could be as high as 100,000. So many Mo Farahs, unknown for not having an Olympic medal on their chest.

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