
Welcome to our collection of quotes by Mo Farah. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Mo Farah
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (Somali: Maxamed Mukhtaar Jaamac Faarax, Arabic: محمد فرح) (born 23 March 1983) is a Somali-born British long-distance runner and the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history. He is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m. Farah is the second athlete, after Lasse Virén, to win both the 5000 m and 10,000 m titles at successive Olympic Games. He also completed the 'distance double' at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships in Athletics. He was the second man, after Kenenisa Bekele, to win long-distance doubles at successive Olympics and World Championships, and the first in history to defend both distance titles in both major global competitions – a feat described as the 'quadruple-double'. Since finishing 2nd in the 10,000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Farah had an unbroken streak of ten global final wins (the 5000m in 2011, the 10,000m in 2017 and the double in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016). The streak ended in Farah's final championship track race, when he finished second to Ethiopia's Muktar Edris in the 2017 5000 metres final. In his final track race, the 2017 Diamond League Final in Zurich in August 2017, Farah gained his revenge, edging out world champion Edris to win his only IAAF Diamond League title at 5000 metres.
On the track, he mostly competed over 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, but has run competitively from 1500 metres to the marathon. In 2017, he indicated his intention to switch wholly to road racing following victory at his final track race, the 2017 IAAF Diamond League 5000 metres final. His running style has been described as bouncy and tactical, which he has attempted to alter for a more efficient and energy-saving stride pattern, especially in the longer distances. Farah runs distance races tactically, a style which is aided by his quick sprint finish.
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, to a family from Gabiley, Somaliland, Farah moved to London and ran for Newham and Essex Beagles athletics club, training at St Mary's University College, Twickenham from 2001 to 2011. Farah is the European record holder for the 10,000 m, half marathon, marathon, and two miles, the British record holder for the 5000 m, the British indoor record holder for the 3000 m and the current world record holder for the one hour run and indoor world record holder for the two miles.
Farah is the most decorated athlete in British athletics history, with ten global titles. He was the first British athlete to win two gold medals at the same world championships. His five gold medals at the European Athletics Championships make him the most successful athlete in individual events in the championships' history. He has won the European Athlete of the Year award and the British Athletics Writers Association British Athlete of the Year award more than any other athlete, three times and six times respectively. In 2017, Farah won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Farah was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to athletics.
He won the 2018 Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:05:11, a European record.

I try to be honest in what I do and in everything I do. I try to be honest with my family.

I've become someone else, really, like a role model.

My goals are to run the London Marathon and do the best that I can.

Come join us; see the reality of what I have to do to achieve what I achieve. There are no cutting corners.

Athletics, for me, was something I was pushed towards. I really wanted to play football when I was younger. Over the years, I started to enjoy it more and learn about it.

I enjoy my athletics, and I want to take it as far as I can.

I want to spend as much time as I can with my kids, but I know the opportunities in athletics don't often come round, so I've just got to make the most of it.

Bolt put the Mobot on the map, to be honest with you! He's just an amazing guy.

The public do get behind me, and I love the crowd. When I'm ever in London, they give me massive support -- the Anniversary Games, the cheers; they are always nice to me.

All that work you put in, it's so worth it to win a medal.

I'd heard a lot about Dubai before I first visited and couldn't wait to go.

If your body needs certain food, you have to give it to it. And as an athlete, if I'm doing 100 miles a week and working out, if I eat bad food one day, it's not bad for me because I burn it off.

I remember, in 1999, the first time I met Steve Cram, I didn't know who he was. It was only later, on YouTube, I started watching Seb Coe, Ovett. So it's nice to be recognised as one of the best guys in the world.

Dubai is a safe place, and I never came across anything to worry about.

As an athlete you want to be able to choose something that you haven't already achieved. Is it different distances, or do you come back and defend your titles? It depends what your coach says.

I'm especially drawn to the sand dunes. I love driving around and exploring them by dune buggy.

There's Kenyan guys who last year or two years ago were running for Kenya, and then they switched to Qatar and Bahrain and other countries. Yes, I do have a problem with that.

I'd love to work with children. I've set up the charity, and that's going well. We've got a lot of projects we're doing in Somalia, so I'd like to see how we're doing there.

It's important you think positively not negatively. Think about your loved ones and all the people who are behind you.

What do you want to be? If you don't put the work in, you're not going to be able to be it.

I'm as much of a human being as the rest of the world. But if I don't train, I don't win. If I don't focus, I don't win. So I don't have a choice: I just have to run.

I've got such a sweet tooth. I do miss the U.K. where you get sticky toffee pudding or custard, all that.

I've got four kids, so I plan ahead. I have to book flights far in advance, look at accommodation, where it is, what you can and can't do. Same in running.

When you line up on the track, you want to have done your homework, be aware of what they are capable of. You think about everything. It's like taking a journey, innit?

You imagine running 120 miles a week, week in, week out, for the past four or five years. It takes a little bit out of you.

I'm a guy who wins medals rather than runs fast times, so for me, what keeps me going is winning medals for my country and making my nation proud.

I'd promised my older daughter Rhianna I was going to get a medal for her, and in my mind I was thinking, 'I can't let her down.'

President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien.

The coach is the boss at the end of the day. I do whatever he tells me and don't ask questions.

Records are there to be broken. Lots of people would love to swap their world record for an Olympic medal, but for me, my medals are there forever and ever, and that's what does it for me.

I'm probably a lot more closer in the 1500m to the world record than I am in the 5000m.

A guy like me, yes, I am good in terms of championship races, and that's where I dominate -- but in terms of running fast times, I haven't quite done that.

It triggers something in you as a human being because you forget what your parents did for you. But when you become a parent, you're like, 'Whoa! It's hard work.' No wonder your parents always tell you off! They've done a lot for you.

On the track, you know what you're capable of, but being at the birth, you have no control.

Growing up, I would never have thought that I'd be a double Olympic champion, with a lovely home and beautiful kids.

The only medication that I am on, I am on asthma, and I have had that since I was a child. That's just a normal use.

I work so hard for what I do. To achieve what I have has taken me half of my life to be able to achieve what I have achieved. And for people to think I have taken a shortcut, it's not right, and it's not fair.

I've never been in the top three of Sports Personality. And I won't be in the top three again. You have just got to accept what it is.

What drives me is winning medals and going out there and enjoying it.

I love what I do. I want to continue winning medals.

It has been a long journey, but if you dream and have the ambition and want to work hard, then you can achieve.

If I didn't have the family and everything, I wouldn't be where I am.

I could sit at home, watch TV, and go for the odd run. But to be the best, you have to make this sacrifice, keep going away and doing blocks of training in the mountains.

I'm the champion, and to stay ahead, I have to work harder.

What I do, it's part of my job, but you want to bring your kids up the right way and give them everything -- to be there for them and have that connection.

It gets to you as a father when your kids don't react to you in the way you imagine.

In training camp, you know what each person is doing.

I've shown that if you dream and are willing to work hard, you can achieve your dreams.

I'm away about six months of the year, competing here in the U.K. or in training camps in Arizona, Ethiopia, the Pyrenees.

In America... it's not divided, but with Trump now, it's like you are asking for trouble. We wouldn't dare to say any of the things he is saying in our country and get away with it. It's just... blasphemy.

I grew up with a lot of friends who are white, black, Muslim, non-Muslim. I like people a lot.

Let me do what I do best. And that's to run and represent my country and make my country proud.

I work every day hard. I put my body through hell. Let me tell you, every year, seven months of the year, I don't see my family. Year in, year out. I miss my kids. Kid's birthdays, anniversaries. I'll never be able to go back and be with my family.

Because of who I am, people ask for photos. I can't just say no to everyone.

It would be great to run around with the family every day, go shopping, take the children out. At my level, though, I can only afford to do that for one week maximum. Otherwise I have to eat, sleep, train -- nothing else.

I go through a lot of painful things. There are sessions when I will be on my back afterwards, crawling.

I was running sub-13 minutes for 5,000 when I was still coached by Alan Storey, and I won double gold at the Europeans in 2010.

Look at my success. I didn't achieve it overnight. It has been the product of many years' struggle, and every year, my times have shown gradual improvement.

It's doesn't just come overnight, you've got to train for it and believe in yourself; that's the most important thing.

I think the way I am, the way I'm chilled out, has a lot to do with being Muslim and having faith.

Everything happens for a reason, so you shouldn't get wound up.

You've got to believe in God.

Every race is different. If you come down the home straight neck and neck, the crowd cheering for you can decide the race.

Everybody in middle-distance running knows each other, and we all know what we are capable of.

Whenever I race in the U.K., the crowd just makes such a massive difference, often between winning and losing.

I wished for just one medal as a junior.

It's hard, and I don't always get to see my kids. I will never catch up on that time I've missed.

I put my body through hell. I run 120 miles a week, week in, week out.

To be labelled a cheat -- it's not fair. If I'm a cheat, then prove I'm a cheat or just leave me alone and let me do what I do best.

I work every day, and every year I spend seven months away from my family. I miss my kids' birthdays, and those are times I will never be able to go back on and share with them. That kills me.

I don't want to talk politics, but what I do say is I believe in rules and laws, and if you come to this country, you've got to abide by the rules here.

I believe no matter who you are, respect yourself, respect others.

There's got to be the same rules for everyone.

If I am lining up for a race, and I know there is someone there who cheats, it upsets me.

This is where I started life. This is where I went to uni. This is where the people I know are. This is my country, and when I put on my Great Britain vest, I'm proud, very proud, that it's my country.

My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.

Even though running is work for me, I always miss it if I take a break. A lot of people find running relaxing, but I can never switch off from timing and competing against myself.

Social media can be dangerous. People hide behind their computers and write negative things, so I like to keep it about communicating with my fans.

I used to get called 'Ferrari' when I was a kid because I was always running everywhere.

The whole reason I moved to the U.S. to be coached by Alberto Salazar is to be able to improve 1 or 2 per cent. I was sick of coming sixth in the world, seventh in the world, and get close to a medal, but not quite there, half-a-second.

I don't know much about politics, but you have to look at it with the bigger picture and think what's best for us now, what's best for us in 10 years' time, what's best for our kids' kids' future -- and I don't know.

You try and help something, and later on it bites you, so it's a hard decision, but as a country, as a nation, people need our help.

In life, if people need help, then we should try and help them out.

I am just grateful I have a British passport and a country here.

There's a time in everyone's career where you go, 'Ah, this is hard -- how long am I going to have to do this?' But the rewards are so great. Who gets to go on the podium and hear the national anthem? The whole nation singing! Money can't buy you that.

I said to myself, 'I don't want to be coming sixth or seventh, and being the best in Britain. I want to be the best in the world and race against these Kenyan guys.'

I wasn't a fighting kid or a causing-trouble kid. I was just one of those cheeky, crazy kids running around.

I always learn something from every race.

I want to thank the public, so I have to keep doing what I do, which is keep winning medals for my country.

To be knighted, that would be amazing. I remember Alex Ferguson from Man Utd got it and Steve Redgrave -- to be in the same category as them is amazing.

I'm 33 years old; I'm getting old. Every year is different, and as an athlete, you've got to be honest with yourself.

It's great to be British, really. If anything happens, I'm back to my country. At least I have a country.

This picture has been painted of me. It's not right. I am 100% clean.

There is so much to discover in Dubai.