Fifth-placed Farah apologises after his row with legend Gebrselassie hogged the pre-race limelight but Kipchoge hogged all the glory with the second-fastest time ever
MO FARAH apologised yesterday for stealing the limelight away from the London Marathon but insisted he had told only the truth.
Eliud Kipchoge put on the greatest show in race history to win his fourth title and leave the Briton more than three minutes behind him in fifth.
But the brilliant Kenyan’s achievement was overshadowed by the escalating row between Farah and fellow athletics legend Haile Gebrselassie (highlighted in the Mirror last Thursday, inset top right).
“What I said is the honest truth,” said Farah, who could not live with the blistering pace set by Kipchoge, who won in 2hr 2min 37sec. “But at the same time it’s all about the London Marathon and I didn’t mean to take any limelight away from the sport or anything like that.”
Farah’s coach Gary Lough blasted “mistruths, exaggerations and slurs” which have surfaced since his athlete called out Gebrselassie over the theft of his possessions from a hotel owned by the Ethiopian.
“There was definitely a robbery. It was an inside job,” said Lough, Paula Radcliffe’s husband. “We’ve not been anything apart from honest from the start.
“This was something that was bothering Mo so he had to get it off his chest. If he hadn’t said anything it would still have been inside him.” Farah had been accused by Gebrselassie of “punching and kicking” a husband and wife while staying in one of his hotels in Ethiopia – then not paying his bill.
Gebrselassie further alleged the four-time Olympic champion held a grudge against him since Jama Aden, a coach linked to a major doping investigation whom the Ethiopian claims was involved in Farah’s training, was refused entry to his hotel.
“Mo Farah’s got nothing to do with Jama Aden,” raged Lough. “Someone has tried to slur him and come out with a lot of unfounded nonsense.”
How Farah thought he could repeat his Chicago Marathon-winning display of six months ago against such a turbulent backdrop is anyone’s guess.
He clung to Kipchoge’s coat tails for half the race but the world record holder then released the hand brake and was gone, carving 28 seconds off the course record and clocking the second fastestever marathon time.
“Kipchoge’s time was incredible,” said Farah, who clocked 2:05:39 and hinted he would return to the track for the London Anniversary Games in July. “I’m definitely disappointed, but he’s a very special athlete.”
A year after collapsing when leading the Commonwealth Games marathon, Callum Hawkins was the second Briton home in 10th in 2:08:14, the same position filled by Charlotte Purdue in the women’s race.
Purdue, 27, moved to third in the British all-time rankings with 2:25:38 as she followed in Kenyan winner Brigid Kosgei, who triumphed in 2:18:20.
But there was disappointment for eight-time wheelchair winner David Weir, who was in fifth in 1:37:32, four months after being involved in a car crash, as American Daniel Romanchuk won in 1:33:88.