Mo Farah – the little engine that could

Not satisfied there, though, Farah added further to his legacy this past weekend at the Anniversary Games. Running in the 3000m, Farah didn’t even stretch himself and still won the race by a comfortable margin; the Brit was already kissing the track before his nearest rivals crossed the finish line.

Words like “impressive” and “amazing” don’t even begin to do justice to Mo Farah. The man has an indescribable talent. He owns gold medals and record times in his two strongest events, and yet is still capable of breaking a further British record, at an unfamiliar distance, in what was essentially a sophisticated training exercise. To be able to compete in a range as vast as that from the 1500m all the way to the marathon, and not only to compete but to excel in those events, is a remarkable feat worthy of both recognition and great praise.

So how does he do it?

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary” – Vidal Sassoon

The secret, as with any great athlete, is in preparation and sheer hard work. Any athletic contest, as Muhammad Ali once put it, “is won or lost far away from witnesses , behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

Long distance running is no different than boxing in that regard. Farah’s unparalleled success has come as a result of an uncommon work ethic and a dedication to greatness that has made him an unstoppable engine on the track.

After his success at the Olympic Games last summer, Farah’s work ethic has become the stuff of legend. In the aftermath of his double gold, the BBC’s Tom Fordyce reported on Farah’s tremendous work ethic to help us better understand the British athlete’s extraordinary standards.

“Four weeks ago at Crystal Palace, in a cold, empty stadium long since deserted by the crowds who had earlier watched him win a Diamond League 5,000m race, Mo Farah stepped back out onto the track and once again pulled on his running spikes. It was closing in on midnight, the lights low, the only people left in there were his coach Alberto Salazar, training partner Dathan Ritzenhein and a few of us journos filing late stories. As we watched on from the dark stands… Farah and Ritzenhein threw themselves into a brutal session – a 3,000m time trial, a brief recovery and then four lots of 200m sprints, each completed in exactly 26 seconds and separated only by a 200m jog.”

That is what it takes to be a true champion; the determination to work harder than everyone else to achieve your goals, and to sacrifice what you have to in order to get there. Sacrifice. It is a word Farah knows far better than most. Following his victory at the Anniversary games this weekend, the track star told the BBC about the sacrifices that he’s had to make:

“Yesterday I got a bit emotional because I haven’t seen my twin [baby] girls for nearly two months. I went to pick them up and one of them started crying, she didn’t even recognise me and that was hard as a parent when you have been away for so long. Sometimes that’s what it takes being a true athlete. Being a long distance runner is not easy, it’s not as easy as everything else or everyone would be doing what I am doing.”

He is already one of the greatest distance runners the world has ever seen, but the growing feeling after his performances at Monaco and at the Anniversary games is that we haven’t seen the last of Mo Farah. In fact, the man himself said this weekend that he is working “a lot harder” to improve in every single race. “I love what I do and I just want to train,” Farah told BBC’s Sportsweek, “I want that feeling again [winning two Olympic golds] and that makes you more of a fighter than anything else”.

Even at the ripe age of 30, with the enormous effort that Farah puts into his training, I don’t think there is a limit that can be put on his potential. He boasts a devastating mix of physical endurance, power, speed and technique combined with the sheer will to succeed in even the most pressurising atmosphere (as he did at the London Olympics). With those qualities and an insatiable hunger to succeed, I’m not sure that there is anything that Mo Farah can’t do.

Britain will now wait with bated breath to see what its favourite athlete can produce at the World Championships in Moscow in two weeks’ time. Following that, Farah has said that he will be stepping away from the track to concentrate his efforts on marathon training. Knowing Farah, the switch in focus will deliver medals and records just as it has at every other distance he’s attempted.

Beyond that, who knows what he will be able to accomplish or what distances he will conquer. Perhaps in a year’s time we will be watching him chase down his friend Usain Bolt in the 200m.

The scary part is that I’m only half joking…