Mo Farah accused of attacking athlete in hotel gym
BUT GEBRSELASSIE HITS BACK
ATHLETICS stars Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie were involved in a furious war of words last night.
Legendary Ethiopian distance runner Gebrselassie, 46, accused Britain’s world champion of blackmail and attacking an athlete in the gym of his hotel in Addis Ababa. The allegations came after Farah, 6, claimed he had a watch, two phones and £2,600 in cash taken from his room at the YAYA Africa Athletics Village on his birthday on March 2 .
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Farah said double Olympic champion Gebrselassie failed to respond to his calls about the incident.
Gebrselassie responded by accusing Farah of ‘multiple reports of disgraceful conduct, which was not expected from a person of his calibre’. He also claimed police charges relating to an attack on another athlete were only dropped due to his mediation and Farah left the hotel without paying a £2,168 bill.
Gebrselassie is understood to be opening defamation proceedings.
Farah’s spokesman said last night: ‘Mo is disappointed with this statement and the continued reluctance by the hotel and its owner to take responsibility for this robbery. Mo disputes all of these claims which are an effort to distract from the situation, where members of hotel staff used a room key and stole money and items from his room (there was no safe as it was faulty).
‘Despite many attempts to discuss this issue privately with Mr Gebrselassie, he did not respond, but... we would welcome him or his legal team getting in touch.’
A FURIOUS war of words erupted between Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie last night after the Ethiopian accused Britain’s four-time Olympic champion of ‘attacking a married athlete’ in response to Farah’s revelation that he was robbed while staying at Gebrselassie’s hotel. Farah had yesterday claimed that he had a watch, two phones and £2,600 in cash across four currencies stolen from his room at Gebrselassie’s Yaya Village Resort near Sululta on March 23 — his 36th birthday. Farah went on to angrily criticise Gebrselassie for not returning multiple messages about the incident, but it prompted an explosive response from the double Olympic champion. In an astonishing statement, Gebrselassie said a report had been made to police over
Farah allegedly ‘attacking’ a married athlete in the hotel gym. When contacted by
Sportsmail, Gebrselassie’s agent Jos Hermens confirmed the veracity of the statement but was unable to clarify the nature of the ‘attack’, after which Gebrselassie claims police charges were dropped following his mediation.
In further allegations, Gebrselassie said there were ‘multiple reports of disgraceful conduct, which was not expected from a person of his calibre, and his entourage during his stay, by hotel staff’. It added that when Farah left the hotel after a two-month stay, he did not pay a bill of 81,000 birr (£2,168) and that he would be legally pursuing Farah for defamation. Gebrselassie also accused Farah of blackmail.
In response, Farah’s spokesperson last night told Sportsmail: ‘Mo is disappointed with this statement and the continued reluctance by the hotel and its owner to take responsibility for this robbery. Mo disputes all of these claims which are an effort to distract from the situation, where members of his hotel staff used a room key and stole money and items from Mo Farah’s room (there was no safe as it was faulty, and Mo requested a new one).
‘Police reports confirm the incident and the hotel admitted responsibility and were in contact with Mo’s legal adviser. The hotel even offered to pay Mo the amount stolen, only to withdraw the offer when he prematurely left the hotel and moved, due to security concerns.
‘ Despite many attempts to discuss this issue privately with Mr Gebrselassie, he did not respond but now that he has, we would welcome him or his legal team getting in touch so that this matter can be resolved.’
Farah, who had been in Ethiopia to prepare for Sunday’s London Marathon, made the stunning row public in a routine pre-race press conference.
Having stayed in the hotel from January 18, he discovered after returning from a training run on March 23 that his suitcase had been ransacked, with a Tag Heuer watch missing in addition to £800, $1,500 (£1,159), 20,000 birr (£534), and ¤100 (£86) plus the two phones.
Farah, 36, said he had attempted to contact Gebrselassie and was left fuming after the double Olympic champion did not return his messages.
‘I’d been staying there the entire time from January 18,’ said Farah yesterday. ‘ That morning I had left at 5.30am and I gave my key to reception so they could clean — I’d been doing that all the time. I came back about 4.30pm, got the keys from reception, went into my room, lay on the bed because I was a bit tired, and then I noticed my bag was open.
‘It was locked but it’s been broken into. Someone’s got the key from reception, opened it up, took my money, took my nice watch that my wife got me and two phones.
‘The watch was sentimental — it can’t be replaced. They weren’t going to do anything so I called the police, they came over, took stuff, went away, they said they arrested five guys but they got released.’
Then, directing his anger at Gebrselassie, he added: ‘I sent Haile a message to tell him what had happened but he didn’t reply. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t respond, even though that’s his hotel.
‘One of the guys from the hotel called him because I said I wanted to speak to him and he said, ‘‘We’re working on it’’. We got two lawyers to look into it. I don’t care about the money, just get my watch.
‘As someone who pays for a hotel, I’m disappointed they didn’t take proper action. It doesn’t matter who I am — if you stay somewhere for three months you expect a bit more. I just want him (Gebrselassie) to take responsibility of getting my stuff back.
‘It’s a hotel’s responsibility to be able to get it back. You pay for each night — you’re not getting it free. I had to move out for the last week because I didn’t feel comfortable.’
Sportsmail has seen a text message Farah sent to 46-year- old Gebrselassie in pushing for a resolution.
It read: ‘I want to inform you that I’m disappointed you have not made any effort to find my stolen money, and especially my watch.
‘I have tried to contact you several times. Know that I am not responsible for what I say during the press conference in London and what influence it will have on your personality and your business. Greetings. Sir Mo.’