The twin brother of Britain’s Olympic gold medal hero Mo Farah has spoken for the first time about how they were torn apart as boys amid the chaos of civil war in Somalia.
In a heartbreaking story of a childhood fractured by violence and turmoil, Hassan Farah has revealed he and Mo had such a close bond that they slept in the same bed and shared food from the same plate.
The pair were so strikingly similar that teachers and even friends confused one for the other.
But the boys were forced to say goodbye at the age of eight when their parents made the agonising decision to send three of their six children, including Mo, to Britain for a chance of a better life. It was a wrench neither of them has forgotten and it was a full 12 years until the twins saw each other again.
Mo Farah's twin brother Hassan is pictured doing the 'Mobot' outside his home in Hargeisa, Somaliland
Mo Farah was sent to England with his two older brothers to live with their father, while Hassan stayed behind
Hassan grew up amid dust and poverty in the African state of Djibouti which borders Somalia, and has watched without bitterness or resentment as his brother, who excelled on the sports fields of England, became a world-class athlete.
Mo has rarely spoken about his family back in Africa. But The Mail on Sunday tracked Hassan down to his modest home in Hargeisa, northern Somalia, last week.
It was here, half a world away from the Olympic Stadium in London, that Hassan watched TV with pride and happiness as his brother secured an unprecedented double gold triumph.
It was midnight before well-wishers stopped calling at Hassan’s door to share their excitement and joy at the town’s famous son.
Yesterday, still celebrating and still wearing his white Team GB jersey, Hassan spoke about the extraordinary events that tore him and his brother apart.
‘We had been together in everything, we were inseparable,’ he said. ‘We shared food from the same plate, we shared a bed and we played and studied together. There is a special love between twins that is different from other sibling love.
‘When Mo was sent away I was left with an empty space in my heart. That space has never been filled, but he is still somewhere in my heart and I know I am in his.
‘Like many Somali families we were torn apart by war. In my case it felt more tragic than most. I feel I lost the other half of myself, my twin brother.
‘These days we are all still close, despite the difficulties of travel and communications in this country.’
