British Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah has revealed that's not his real name, but one he adopted, after he was trafficked from Somalia as a child.
The four-time Olympic distance-running champion - after winning back-to-back 5000m/10,000m doubles on the track at London 2012 and Rio 2016 - has become sporting royalty in his adopted country, but he's about to lift the lid on his real background in a BBC documentary.
Farah, 39, has always insisted he arrived in the UK with his mother and brothers to join a father already residing there.
But he has now revealed he was trafficked as a slave and his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
"Despite what I've said in the past, my parents never lived in the UK," says Farah. "When I was four, my dad was killed in the civil war.
"I was separated from my mother and I was brought into the UK illegally under the name of another child called Mo Farah."
Farah was brought to London, where he was put to work caring for the children of his 'adopted' family.
"If I wanted food in my mouth, my job was to look after those kids - shower them, cook for them, clean for them - and [the mother] said, 'If you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything or they will take you away.
"Often I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry."
After confiding in his physical education teacher at Feltham Community College, Farah eventually broke free from his predicament and went to live with the family of a school friend instead.
As the youngster began to show his running ability, he applied for citizenship under his fictitious name of Mohamed Farah.
In the BBC documentary to air this week, lawyers tell Farah he could lose his nationality, because it was obtained by fraud, but the risk is lessened, because he was trafficked.
"No action whatesover will be taken against Sir Mo," assured a Home Office spokesman.
Farah has named his Hussein as a nod to his own real name and he was reunited with his real family, after members of the Somali community recognised him and contacted his mother.
