Mohamed Farah, the Olympic and World athletics champion, has boosted his personal fortune by nearly £3 million in the past year as a result of various sponsorship deals.
Annual accounts filed this week by his company Mo Farah Ltd showed it had assets of £2,995,785 at the end of 2014, demonstrating the commercial appeal of the British long-distance runner.
Farah has deals with companies including Nike, Lucozade, Bupa, Virgin Media and Quorn, carrying his fame far beyond the track.
The account, filed with Companies House, showed £1m cash, more than £1.5m of money owed and ‘investment property’ worth around £415,000.
Once the firm’s debts are deducted, it stands £1.96m in profit – an increase of more than £630,000 on 2013.
Farah, who arrived in Britain from war-ravaged Somalia as a child, achieved national hero status after winning gold medals in the 5,000m and the 10,000m at the London Olympics in 2012.
He was appointed CBE in the subsequent New Year’s Honors list and since then has achieved the same gold medal double at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships in Moscow and Beijing respectively.
Farah is part of the Nike Oregon Project and is based partly at their training facilities in Portland. He has appeared in television advertisements for Lucozade and Virgin Media, the latter alongside Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt.
In 2013, he was signed up as the figurehead for Quorn’s television adverts for their protein products.
The accounts revealed that Farah, 32, is the co-director of the firm alongside his wife Tania, whose occupation is listed as ‘public relations manager.’ The pair are equal shareholders in the firm.
Farah was caught up in the doping scandal surrounding his coach at the Nike Oregon Project, Alberto Salazar, earlier this year.
A BBC Panorama programme accused Salazar of practicing doping techniques with other athletes, claims he denies.
UK Athletics found ‘no reason to be concerned’ about Salazar and his training regime following an investigation into the claims.
FARAH’S ACHIEVEMENTS
- 2010 Farah wins gold in the 5,000m and the 10,000m at the European Championships in Barcelona
- 2011 He claims his first World Championship gold in the 5,000m in Daegu, South Korea
- 2012 Farah win gold in the 5,000m at the European Championships in Helsinki; He becomes a national hero after winning double gold at the 2012 London Olympic Games
- 2013 Farah made CBE in the New Year’s Honors; Later, he wins the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the World Championships in Moscow
- 2014 Two more golds arrive in the European Championships in Zurich; Finishes eighth in the London Marathon; Finishes the Great North Run half-marathon in exactly one hour
- 2015 Broke the European half-marathon record in Lisbon; Farah successfully defends both his titles at the World Championships in Beijing – his seven global titles are four more than any other British athlete
Source: The Daily Mail
