Double Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah has revealed that he was detained by American border officials on suspicion of being a terrorist when trying to enter the country for Christmas. 

Farah claims that this is not the first time border guards have questioned him after noticing his Somali ancestry. This time he even showed them his gold medals in an effort to prove who he was.

I couldn’t believe it. Because of my Somali origin, I get detained every time I come through US Customs. This time I even got my medals out to show who I am, but they wouldn’t have it.

Farah was on his way to Portland, Oregon. He moved there last year to work with trainer Alberto Salazar at Nike’s HQ. But when trying to organise his residency permit, he also ran into trouble due to his Somali roots:

We were in Portland on a tourist visa so had to leave and re-enter the country as a resident. So we flew to Toronto to stay for a few days, then came back in. But when we were there we got a letter telling us we’re under investigation as a terrorist threat and we would have to stay away for 90 days. We had only packed four days’ worth of clothes. We didn’t know what to do!

Salazar eventually managed to sort the situation out with border officials.

[Source: Yahoo]