OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Farah eyes new challenges after securing status as athletics legend

MO way, way to Mo, fly Mo – you pay your money, you take your choice but welcome to the MO-lympics.

KICK: Mo Farah saw off his rivals with a superb finish the home straight to win his second gold of the Games

Mo Farah will leave these Games with his place in athletics legend assured, one of only seven men to run the 5,000m and 10,000m double, joining a storied list that includes track greats such as Emil Zatopek, Lasse Viren and Kenenisa Bekele.

He produced a brilliant run, his last lap was 52.9 seconds – almost as quick as British team-mate Shana Cox ran in the women’s 400m semi-finals – and he covered the last mile of his 5,000m final in less than four minutes.

With 80,000 partisan fans at his back, the others simply didn’t have a chance and when Farah started to accelerate and the roar intensified there was never any doubt who would be climbing the top step of the podium.

Farah’s performances will define these Games and will be what many people remember – in 2008 we had Bolt’s Lightning pose, in 2012 we had the Mo-bot – and both men, who are managed by the same lucky agent Ricky Simms, did each others’ trademark poses after receiving their medals.

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“There is no word to describe what I feel right now,” he said,

“As an athlete you dream of these moments and becoming the Olympic champion. To do it twice is amazing but to do it twice at your home Games is just impossible to describe.

“You think of the great athletes who have done it in the past and it’s so humbling to be mentioned in the same sentence as them.

“Hard work and grafting gets you there. What I’ve been doing in terms in mileage is incredible but doing that and having a great coach like Alberto Salazar has just paid off for me.

“Usain Bolt is a legend, we won’t see his like again and to see him doing my Mo-Bot is just incredible.

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“To win three golds at one Olympics and then come back and win three more at another is amazing.  If I can come back at another Olympics and do a double then I might be sort of kind of getting there.”

Farah was happy with the slow pace of the race and admitted he was feigning just how tired he was after Wednesday’s heats.

“I was feeling tired but I was telling people that I felt more tired than I was,” he added.

“I knew that if it came down to the last lap then anyone could kick and it worked in my favour so it was awesome.

“On that last lap I wasn’t thinking about staying in the front and letting no-one go past me.

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“The crowd was inspiring, it got louder and louder and it reminded me of a football match and when someone scores a goal. I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for them.

“I didn’t know I had won it until two or three metres from the line.”

Farah’s next priority is supporting wife Tania as she prepares to give birth to twins, who will now have a medal each. But soon he will look to the marathon – and  promoters around the world will be lining up with big cheques to sweeten that deal.

“I still think there is more to achieve on the track, at the Worlds and Europeans,” he added.

“I’d like to step up to a marathon one day but not yet because what I’m doing now is working. I will speak to my coach and plan the next few years, but I’ll race in Birmingham and then do the half-marathon at the Great North Run, so I’m getting there.

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“I’m very excited about the future.”

Zatopek famously didn’t do the 5,000m and 10,000m double the last time these Games were staged in London, settling for gold and silver. Four years later he finally won them both and then won the marathon. Sounds like a challenge for the unstoppable Farah.

©  2012

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