Mo Farah - Personal Life

Personal Life

In April 2010, Farah married his longtime girlfriend Tania Nell in Richmond, London. Other athletes at the wedding included Paula Radcliffe, Steve Cram, Hayley Yelling, Jo Pavey, Mustafa Mohamed and Scott Overall, who was an usher. Farah has a stepdaughter from this relationship called Rihanna. He and his wife also have twin daughters born in August 2012, named Aisha and Amani.

Farah is a devout Muslim, and an active supporter of the Muslim Writers Awards. He is also a fan of Arsenal F.C.

Farah is additionally involved in various philanthropic initiatives, launching the Mo Farah Foundation after a trip to Somalia in 2011. The following year, he participated in ITV's The Cube and won £250,000 for his foundation, becoming the first person ever to beat the Cube. Along with other high profile athletes, Farah also participated in the 2012 Olympic hunger summit.

In addition, Farah has endorsement deals with a number of companies, including Nike, Lucozade, Bupa and Virgin Media. He is expected to earn more than £2 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue after having completed double gold medals in the 10,000 m and 5,000 m at the 2012 Olympic Games. According to the brand consulting firm BrandRapport, Farah would still have made large sums of money even if he had not managed a second gold medal. The success of the UK team in general at the London Olympics and the enthusiasm surrounding the event has reportedly paved the way for future endorsement deals that dwarf those previously offered to British Olympic athletes.

In December 2012, Farah intimated that he had been detained a number of times by U.S. Customs under suspicion of being a terrorist, a fact which he attributed to his Somali origin. On one occasion after the 2012 Olympics, he asserted that he had attempted to prove his identity by showing his gold Olympic medals to customs officials, but that this was not accepted.

Farah was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to athletics. The move was met with anger by many in the general public, who felt that he deserved to have been knighted. Farah's former Physical Education teacher Alan Watkinson suggested that the decision "discredits the system ­although it's still a fantastic achievement for Mo and well ­deserved."