Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S BEEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS EMOJIONAL!
Farah, the humble legend, says farewell to the track today knowing he’s made it ...he now has his own Mobot emoji!
SIR MO FARAH was so excited he took to social media to tell the world about it.
Not winning Britain’s only gold medal of these World Championships in the 10,000 metres – his 10th successive global title.
Rather the news that Twitter had given him his own emoji.
“SO excited to have my own Mobot emoji!!” he tweeted, followed by a blizzard of hashtags.
Farah is 34 and a married father of four. In medal terms he is the most successful British athlete of all-time.
He has been unbeaten for six years against the best the world can throw at him. Dealt with the loneliness that comes with spending half the year, every year, away from his young family.
Coped too with the blowback from serious allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar, who remains under investigation by the US Anti-doping Agency and who denies any wrongdoing.
Yet give him a Mobot emoji and he reacts like a kid in a sweetshop the night before Christmas. It may seem an irrelevance, a tiny detail in the make-up of the man.
But it actually offers quite a clue to his longevity.
“To be honest,” he said, ahead of today’s 5,000 metres final, the last championship track appearance of his career, “what is keeping me on the top is being normal.
“It is about staying hungry, staying humble, being nice, being who you are. No-one is going to change me.
“I’m a very lucky person in life,” he added. “I have a gift that not many people have – to be able to know who I was and where I came from as a youngster.
“To have achieved what I have has been incredible. I don’t think there’s enough words to explain the journey and everything. But you have to 2011 World Champs – Daegu
2012 Olympic Games – London
2013 World Champs – Moscow
2015 World Champs – Beijing
2016 Olympic Games – Rio de Janeiro
2017 World Champs – London appreciate what you have.”
Which is why, when he recalls the opening night of these championships and what many regard as the greatest race of his career, he thinks not of the 10 kilometres he raced but the lap of honour with his family which followed.
“When I took my kids on the track that was beautiful,” said the man who arrived from war-torn Somalia as an eight-year old speaking barely a word of English.
“Five years ago at London 2012, who would have thought the twins in mummy’s tummy would be on the track?”
Today’s 5,000m final is no gimme, even if he has won the world title at the past three championships.
But armed with that boyish enthusiasm, burning desire and the knowledge of what happened to Usain Bolt in his farewell race, you would not bet against him.