The athlete who was born in Mogadishu and moved to England from the war-torn nation when he was eight was speaking today in Twickenham, where he officially launched the Mo Farah Foundation he has set up with his wife Tania, to help combat the famine in the horn of Africa.

Farah's intentions became a reality after he had spent a fortnight visiting Somalia after competing at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, where he won silver in the 10,000 metres and gold in the 5000m – achievements which have seen him nominated as one of the 10 shortlisted sportsmen for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award tomorrow night.

"Seeing the situation touched me," said Farah of his recent visit to the land of his birth.

"I wanted to do something.

"When I became a world champion I thought I could do something.

"There are 3.2 million people there starving.

"A lot of people associate me with Somalia and I just want to do something.

"Four thousands pounds ($6,270/€4,805) is enough to build a well to support a village, we aim to build at least 10 of those wells in the next 12 months alone.

"We aim to provide enough food to feed at least 2,000 kids for a month.

"That's just a starting point for us."


Farah is third favourite to win the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year behind cyclist Mark Cavendish and golfer Darren Clarke after his exploits in Daegu.

"I hope to do well, but 10 class people have been nominated, it depends on what the public say," he said.

"I've had a great year and I'll try to enjoy tomorrow night, I've had one of the best years in my life.

"As an athlete to finish sixth or seventh but to keep coming back and finally win a gold medal and come second, is something I'd never thought possible.

"I would have been happy just to win, but breaking the British and European records have made it a great year."

On Friday morning Farah will head to Kenya for a four-week training camp before returning to the UK to compete in the 1,500m in Glasgow.

Reflecting on his athletics career, Farah – who has already been named as European Athlete of the Year and today heard he was the British Olympic Association's athlete of the year for his sport – said:

"I've already put this year behind me.

"I'm a world champion and no-one can take that away from me, but I don't walk around thinking I'm world champion so I can eat chips or a burger. You have to stay disciplined.

"Hopefully I'll just keep on improving, it's not just about times - it's about medals, in your career you want to collect as many as you can.

"I'm really excited about the Olympics, now all I can think about is London 2012.

"I want to keep pushing myself and hopefully I'll keep going up."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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