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“We’re very excited to welcome Mo back to the NYC Half,” said Wittenberg. “This is a huge thrill for New Yorkers, who will get to see the world’s top distance runner on the streets of Manhattan before he makes his full marathon debut in London. Mo’s star quality and fan following are unmatched in our sport, and we are honored to have him highlight our professional field.”
Mo Farrah is the current, 10,000 m Olympic and World champion and 5000 m Olympic, World and European champion. Mohammed “Mo” Farrah was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and moved to England at the age of eight. This sudden migration proved to be difficult for Mo in the preliminary years, as he found it difficult to communicate, but, a lapse of 20 years, proved to the world, that he has grown to epitomize himself as one of Britain’s greatest long distance runners.
In addition to the two Olympics medals he secured at London in 2012, he bagged the gold medal in both these events at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow. This achievement marked him as being only the second man in the history of track and field, to hold all four major international distance run titles. Apart from these, some other mighty exploits of Mo Farrah include, gold and silver medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 respectively, at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, and, four medals in all, at the European Championships in the past decade. Mo Farah holds the European track record for 10,000 m, 1500 m and Two Miles, the British indoor record in the 3000 m, the British track record for 5000 m, the British half-marathon record, and the European indoor record for 5000 m. The greatness which embodied in all of these achievements, led BBC commentators Brendan Foster and Sir Sebastian Coe to call Farrah ‘Britain’s greatest ever athlete’.
Since 2011, Mo Farrah has been training regularly at Portland, Oregon, United States, in order to consolidate his training with coach, Alberto Salazar. The ‘innovative training’ that is implemented by Nike Oregon Project, is stated by Farrah to be the primal force behind his improved performance.
On 26 February, 2014, The New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg announced that Farrah shall be taking part in the New York City Half Marathon.
“I can confirm that I will run the NYC Half on March 16 as part of my buildup to the London Marathon in April,” said Farah. “It will be my second time to compete in this event, after my win there in 2011. I have been training hard in Kenya and hope to use the New York race to gauge my fitness one month out from my 26.2 mile debut.”
Along with these developments, Mo Farrah is also nominated for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. This is in accordance with his achievements in the past two years, of securing double gold at the Olympics in 2012, and the World Championships in 2013. Others nominated in this category are Usain Bolt( a three time winner of this award), Rafael Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sebastian Vettel and LeBron James. The results are scheduled to be announced on the 26th of March at the award ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Mo Farrah has already established his legacy in the history of distance running, and his debut at London Marathon is much awaited. With a stark combination of talent, and dedication, which Mo Farrah possesses, it is likely to witness an extraordinary run at London.
