The giant screens at the Olympic Stadium often invite audience to make some noise but it was not something needed when Mohammed Farah raced his 10,000-metre run on Saturday.
The crowd were already on their feet seeking Jessica Ennis and George Rutherford picking up two gold medals for Great Britain and when Farah began his race they had just one phrase to say- ‘Go Mo Go.’
They had no idea if it would work, but it worked indeed, capping a super night for them as Farah claimed the gold, becoming the first non-African to win the event, since Italy’s Alberto Cova at Los Angeles in 1984, in the process.
Behind him were his training partners Galen Rupp and Tariku Bekele, the younger brother Kenenisa Bekele, who came to London dreaming of winning his third consecutive 10,000m Olympics title.
Farah dethroned Kenenisa in a stunning 53.48 seconds last lap that provided enormous tension to his home fans as all top contenders were very close.
Farah eventually took the tape with arms outstretched and eyes bulging. He screamed into the night, slapped his head three times with both hands and turned to see his training partner Rupp crossing the line behind him for silver medal.
The two athletes fell into each others’ arms before Farah collapsed on the track. Farah was joined on the track by his step daughter Rhianna and wife Tania, pregnant with twins.
It was the end of a long struggle that began when Farah was just eight. Born and raised in Mogadishu, Farah came to England as a war refugee and had had long struggle to find his feet in his adopted home.
Farah’s profile rocketed only after he moved to United States in 2011 for a permanent training base with a 5,000m world title and 10,000m world silver won in South Korea.
He took his preparation in Oregon and when he came back to London for the Olympics he is already a sensation here. If Farah still had any doubt it was the reaction of crowd that reminded him how he is loved by them.
‘It was an unbelievable support today,’ Farah told a news conference. ‘If it wasn’t for the crowd and their support, people shouting out my name, cheering and putting that Union Jack up I don’t think it would have happened.
‘When I crossed the line I just couldn’t believe it.
I was like, did I really just finish first?,’ he said.
‘As I came through the tunnel, people were shouting out my name, saying ‘Go Mo’ and the atmosphere when you walk into that stadium was just something else,’ Farah said.
‘At that point, I knew that somehow I had to do something.
‘This is my home, this is where I grew up in London, so to win the Olympics running where I grew up, where I went to school, where I started life just means so much to me,’ he said.
His African root has given him the talent, but Britain gave him a life, the courage to fight and the spirit to win, so he had no problem to celebrate it like a true British.
-With New Age input
