Yahoo Finance Mo Farah: ‘I’d love to be able to give back to the younger generation’
Sir Mo Farah says he’d like to ‘give back’ to his sport and that the Paris Olympics in 2024 is ‘too far down the line’.
The multiple Olympic, world and European champion missed out on the Tokyo Olympics this year after failing to make the 10,000m Olympic qualifying mark at the British Athletics Championships. He then fractured his foot, which put paid to the rest of his summer race season.
When RW spoke to Farah at a press event this week he said that his recovery is ‘going well’ but he has a long road ahead to get back to his previous form. ‘I’m starting from zero,’ he said. ‘It’s not like, this is what I was and I’m automatically just up here.
‘This is the first time I’ve done a bit of exercise. It’s just nice to be back on the road, you know, it’s so much harder when you’re injured because there’s nothing happening because you’re used to running every day and can’t exercise. It’s been hard but I’m getting back into it now, building [it up]…’
When we asked Farah if he’d like to be back racing again next year, although hopeful, his plans appeared quite vague. ‘Yeh, in 2022 I’d love to be able to compete in the marathon, half-marathon, a 10k somewhere…’ he said.
And when we asked the 'double double' world and Olympic champion about his hopes of competing in the next Olympics in Paris in 2024, he was even less committal – even hinting at possible retirement. 'I think it’s too far down the line, Paris, to be honest. From what I’ve learned and what I’ve achieved in my career, I’d love to be able to give back to the younger generation and get involved more at grassroots, coaching… to give back that’s the key thing.'
This week British Athletics confirmed the list of athletes who will receive National Lottery funding over the next 12 months via its Olympic World Class Programme (WCP) – and Farah was not included.
But it seems the 38-year-old’s attention is now turning to bringing on the next generation of young athletes. ‘There’s so much there – often people don’t know that until they experience it themselves. If you can help somebody – [say there’s] 100 athletes [and] two people come from there [and] end up to become somebody, these things change their lives.”
RW was talking to Sir Mo Farah at a press event unveiling's HUAWEI new GT 3 fitness smartwatch. The watch is available to pre-order now from Huawei Store (on-sale from Nov 10th).
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