Mo Farah

Mo Farah is double Olympic champion and the UK's greatest ever distance runner - a far cry from his humble beginnings in Somalia, arriving in London from Mogadishu at the age of 8 and speaking very little English.

He grew up in West London and began running at school when spotted by his PE Teacher. Mo was a very successful junior athlete winning the European Junior 5000m title in 2001. His major breakthrough on the senior stage came in 2006 when he won a silver medal in the 5000m in the European T&F Championships and later in the year won the European Cross Country Championships. At global level he went on to place a creditable 6th in the 2007 World T&F Championships and 7th in the 2009 World T&F Championships.

Mo's career took another step forward in 2010 with a 5000m & 10,000m golden double at the European T&F Championships and one week later became the first British man to run sub 13 minutes for the 5000m with a National Record time of 12:57.94. 2011 was a dream season for the popular 28 year old as he became the first British man to win the 5000m in the World T&F Championships a few days after winning the silver medal in the 10,000m. He smashed the European 10,000m Record with a time of 26:46.57 and improved the British 5000m Record to 12:53.11.

On the 4th August 2012, Farah created history at the London Olympic Games. In his first race Mo capped off 'Super Saturday' by winning the 10,000m gold in a time of 27:30.42. This was Great Britain's first ever Olympic gold medal in the 10,000m and came after two other gold medals for Great Britain in the same athletics session. A week later on the 11th August 2012, Mo completed the hardest track double of them all by winning the 5,000m in a time of 13:41.66. Farah now joins just 5 people (Zatopek, Kuts, Viren, Yifter, Bekele) in the history of the Olympic Games to win the 5k/10k double and the only athlete to do it on home soil. To finish off an amazing 2012 Mo's wife Tania gave birth to twin daughters Aisha and Amani who Mo dedicated each of his gold medals to.

Mo currently lives between Teddington, London and Portland, Oregon with his wife Tania and daughter Rhianna. He is coached by Alberto Salazar and runs for the Nike Oregon Project