Farah - against?

If you are an athletics fan, then it is unlikely that you don’t have an opinion on Mo Farah. Athletics fans and either love him or hate him. Why is that so?

Mo Farah is a two-time double (5000m, 10000m) Olympic gold medal winner (2012, 2016). He has an even better World Championship record, having managed the 5000m/10000m double at 3 successive World Championships (2013, 2015, 2017). Surely that should secure his place in history?

He was knighted, after all, in recognition of his athletic contributions to Great Britain.

He is one of the few people ever to run under 3:30 for 1500m and under 2:06 for the marathon. Spectacular range, right?

Farah way- World Record?

While being an Olympian is an achievement in itself, the medallist secures his place in public memory. That said, Farah doesn’t have a single world record at an Olympic running distance to his name.

Well, he does have a one-hour record set in Brussels in 2020 (21.330km), but that’s laughably soft given that 4 men broke 58 minutes for the half marathon in Valencia in December 2020. It is very likely that if those 4 men, among others, had run the Brussels event, the result would have been different.

Almost every athletic legend held the world record in the event they were known for, for at least a while and in some cases, till date. Think Usain Bolt, David Rudisha and Paula Radcliffe.

Outside the Olympics and World Championships, Farah has not necessarily taken on hard competition head-on. Those two competitions are watered down because of the limit on 3 athletes per country.

Farah does not have a single World Cross Country (WCC) medal - arguably table stakes for long distance running legends (cue Haile, Bekele, Tergat, Paula). In fact, he has never even finished in the top 10 or attended many senior WCC meets.

For those of you who are new to athletics, the World Cross Country has 6 athletes per country. The event brings together athletes of various disciplines ranging from 1500m runners to steeplechasers as well as marathoners.

The depth of talent is staggering. Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya and Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda - just two of the current generation - have both won it and are both respected by their peers and fans.

Farah’s bad company

Farah and Salazar together in happier times

Then there’s the matter of being spotless. Arguably the biggest reason Farah’s performances aren’t respected is because all his Olympic and World Championship medals came after his association with Alberto Salazar.

The now-disgraced coach was banned for 4 years by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for doping offenses. These included abusing prescription medications, especially thyroid hormone supplements. Farah was his top performing athlete for years until he broke away, conveniently, after his last set of medals.

While the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) is yet to rule on Salazar’s appeal in March 2021, it would be a shock to believe Salazar is not guilty of various abuses.

One only needs to read Matt Hart’s Win at All Costs or the articles about Mary Cain and other former trainees under Salazar in the New York Times to get a sense of the lengths to which the Salazar camp was willing to go to win.

Not to forget Farah’s less than logical involvement with the controversial Jama Aden or the befuddling change of statements about him taking L-carnitine injections in 2014.

Admittedly, he won the Chicago Marathon in a more than respectable 2:05:11 in 2018. But Farah hasn’t raced at what is supposed to be his event of choice - 10,000m - since 2017.

He’s expected to return to action on June 2021 at the British Olympic Trials to make a bid for an unprecedented 3rd successive Olympic gold in the 10,000m.

Even the legendary Lasse Viren, who won the double-double (5000m/10000m) gold at two successive Olympics before Farah matched his feat, couldn’t manage a three-peat. Will Farah do that and redeem himself?

and Mo Farah clinches gold