KJT’S MEDAL DREAM FLOPS IN
MO FARAH has lifted the lid on the ruthless streak which turned him into Britain’s greatest athlete.
The day after his sensational 10,000metres triumph he was carrying the battle scars from the “hardest” race of his life.
Three stitches in his left leg and a bruised and heavily swollen knee. But there was also a smile on his face bright enough to light up London.
Behind the family pictures, the Mobot celebration and the I-loveArsenal soundbites burns as fierce a competitive spirit as his sport has known.
“People take my kindness for weakness,” he said. “If I was weak do you think I would have won? Don’t judge people by the cover.
“I am who I am. I deal with things like Mo wants to. A lot of times people say you are nice and try to take advantage, but you have to be ruthless on the track and off it sometimes.”
Farah had his leg scanned, stitched and patched up in the hours after his 10th consecutive global title. He was wounded, but defiant.
“Have I had a race that hard and been that banged up? No,” he said, before confirming he would line up for the 5,000m on Wednesday.
“Friday night was difficult, the guys gave it to me – each one of them. It felt like me against the whole world – and it was. They were working as a team.
“The Ugandan guys were looking for the Kenyan guys, the Kenyan guys were looking for the Ugandan guys, a couple of Ethiopians. They worked that well, fair play to them.”
Farah’s response was to run a faster time than he had done when winning in London, Moscow, Beijing or Rio – at the age of 34.
It brought him a sixth World Championship gold which, added to his one silver, puts him behind only Usain Bolt on the all-time list.
Yet in the runup to a race dubbed “his greatest ever” by Steve Cram and Brendan Foster, Farah was warned by Kenyan rival Geoffrey Kamworor that he had his measure.
“He was like ‘It’s my turn, I’m going to beat him’,” said Farah with a look of disdain. “He didn’t even get a medal! At least back it up with something!”
Of course there will be those KATARINA JohnsonThompson suffered fresh heartache in her attempt to follow in Jess Ennis-Hill’s golden footsteps.
A new coach, a new training set-up and a new positive outlook had brought the British heptathlete to the London suspicious of Farah’s continued success given that his coach Alberto Salazar remains under investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Salazar denies any wrongdoing but the allegations have not done his star client any favours. Farah was himself suggested as a “likely” doper in a leaked IAAF report into his athlete biological passport, a verdict later reversed. He will not have any of that, insisting his accomplishments come from sheer hard work and that “being smart” has helped him get to where he is. “There are days when you come to the track and you are knackered, nothing in the body,” he added. “But if you want it, you have to do the work. “Hard races have to be run, you have to know how races are run, who is capable of what, it is like a formula and tactically you have to get it right. “It is about having a brilliant medical team, looking after yourself, understanding what your body can do and being true to yourself.” Stadium convinced she could put the bad times behind her.
Instead, the long-time heir to Ennis-Hill’s throne endured a familiar mental collapse, on this occasion bombing in her favourite high jump discipline.
Her failure to get over 1.86 metres – when she holds the British record height of 1.98m – left her with a clearance of just 1.80m.
It added up to a loss of 233 points on her best height and almost certainly costing her a medal.
And last night’s shot put left her way down in 13th place on 2,745 points but with her strongest event – the 200m – up next. Her second put of 12.47 was her best and she could only produce 12.36 on her third as she lost further ground on theleaders.
The 24-year-old was left devastated after her high jump agony. On her third failure she collapsed to the mat, head in hands, visibly upset.
It was all too reminiscent of the 2015 Beijing World Championships where she fouled out of the long jump without registering a distance.
Similar too to the Rio Olympics last year when a series of poor throws left