By Andrea Caamano

Copyright hellomagazine

There was a time when Sir Mo Farah ran 120 miles a week, but these days he is down to a more modest 10,000 steps a day, an ordinary human endeavour after his superhuman career, and life is very different.

He is at the launch in London of Huawei’s new Watch GT 6 series and the four-time Olympic and six-time world champion looks as fit as he ever did but his life has been transformed since leaving competition behind.

These days, Mo has swapped his gruelling former weekly regime for just two 5km runs, but only, he says, for “my mental health.”

“Four years ago, training was very different. Back then I was still competing and going strong. Now I’m retired, but every day I still try to challenge myself, walking, running around with my kids. Most importantly, for my mental health.”

His family is now his priority. Mo and his wife Tania have four children, Rhianna, 20, twins Aisha and Amani, 15, and son Hussein, nine. The youngest three have accompanied him on his work trip from Qatar and sit proudly in the front row as he conducts a Q&A session.

After taking photos of their dad on their phones, they join him in this interview, offering feedback on some of his answers. At one point, Mo turns to them to ask how he and his wife Tania celebrated their 15-year anniversary earlier this year. “You were not home that day,” one of his twins reminds him.

Though apart on their big day, Mo has loving words for his wife and proudly describes himself as “a very lucky man.”

“Fifteen years is incredible. A lot of what I’ve achieved I owe to her. She’s been that constant presence through the ups and downs. I’m a very lucky man. Without her it would have been so much harder. It’s wonderful to have a family that believes in you and supports you.”

Family is clearly at the core of his new life, something that was also evident earlier this summer when he received his honorary doctorate from Oxford University, accompanied by his twin daughters.

“Doctor Farah! It was amazing. To be able to get that honorary degree from Oxford is incredible. When I first came to the UK, we were just trying to understand and settle in. If you’d told me then, as a young boy arriving here with nothing, that one day I’d be knighted by the Queen and later receive an honorary degree from Oxford, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

He adds: “I celebrated by taking my twin girls with me. They were part of that day, and it was amazing. We were really looked after, and it meant a lot to share that moment with them, showing them how important it is to tell your story.”

Still, retirement hasn’t been without its challenges. Despite the family milestones, Mo admits he misses the thrill of competition.

“I miss it. I miss it big time. I don’t miss the training, but I miss competing, winning medals for my country, and the adrenaline that comes with it.”

He recognises, though, that his body has changed, and turning 40 has made that clear. Asked if reaching “midlife” has affected him, he tells HELLO!: “Of course it has, if I said otherwise, I’d be lying.”

“Things change a lot in your 40s. Your body just doesn’t go through what it used to, and you can’t do the same things any more. It’s important to acknowledge and understand that. In my 40s, I sometimes look at things differently. I used to be able to do certain things easily, but now I just can’t quite manage them.”

Despite that, Mo remains focused on his wellbeing. He sets himself three daily targets: “tracking my daily steps, closing my rings, and monitoring my sleep.”

“The most important feature in my daily life has to be the activities I do. I’m quite an active person and I try to count my steps every day.”

Mo is currently promoting the new Huawei Watch GT 6 series.