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Mo Farah Brings Drama to the London MarathonPublished by
Mo Farah Airs Dirty Laundry at London Marathon Press ConferenceBy Adam Kopet Mo Farah brought baggage with him to the Virgin Money London Marathon. The hometown favorite and European record holder, brought news of a theft while he was staying at a hotel in Ethiopia during his marathon build-up. The theft in question occurred at a hotel owned by Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie, according to Sean Ingle of the Guardian. Among the items reportedly stolen included about $3,000 in cash in various currencies, two phones and a watch that had been an anniversary gift from Farah's wife. Gebrselassie has responded, accusing Farah of not paying his bill, which amounted to about $3,000, and for attacking a guest in the hotel gym.
Farah's coach, Gary Lough, claims Farah's involvement in the hotel gym altercation was a matter of self defense. Gebrselassie claims it was his intervention that kept Farah from being taken into custody by the police. Complicating matters is Gebrselassie's claim that the bad blood between himself and Farah go back to 2016. According to Tom Morgan, Ben Bloom and Getahun Sintayehu for the Telegraph, Gebrselassie prevented Jama Aden from joining Farah at the Yaya Village Resort, which Gebrselassie owns. Aden was arrested by Spanish authorities for doping offenses in his role as a coach. Farah has maintained that he has never worked with Aden directly. However, Aden has, at the very least, held a watch for Farah during workouts held abroad. Whatever the outcome of the public spat between two of the best distance runners of all-time, it has proved to be a distraction ahead of Sunday's marathon. Farah enters the race having placed third a year ago and winning the 2018 Chicago Marathon in a European Athletics record 2:05:11. Hailing from London, Farah is the local favorite to upset world record holder Eliud Kipchoge. It is hard to know where Farah's mind is as the race approaches. Earlier in the week, he made an appearance at the race expo where he hopped on a padded treadmill set at Kipchoge's world record pace. Farah demonstrated high spirits as he played around.
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