Olympic runner Mo Farah shares a message for struggling Gen Z: ‘I was trafficked as a child, but I never gave up on myself’

It’s well-known that Gen Z is facing challenges. Millions are anxious about their future, and they’re hearing that AI could derail their shot at building a career. But few people understand the feeling of having the odds stacked against you before you even begin as deeply as Sir Mo Farah does.

The Olympic icon has a straightforward message for young people: Don’t let a difficult start keep you from moving forward. Life will knock you down, but your success is your own responsibility.

“Even for me, people would have said as a young boy, ‘he’s not going to make it—you don’t have a chance,’” Farah told . “I was trafficked as a child into the U.K., with my own struggles. But I never gave up on myself.”

The former long-distance runner and four-time Olympic gold medalist was born Hussein Abdi Kahin in what is now Somaliland. His father died in the civil war when he was four, and he was separated from his family—including a twin brother—shortly after. Around age nine, he was taken to the U.K. illegally by a woman he’d never met, given fake documents under the name “Mohamed Farah,” and forced to cook, clean, and change diapers while working as a domestic servant for a family in west London. 

His lifeline came a few years later when he confided in a PE teacher, and his situation improved—the teacher fostered Farah’s talent, notified social services, and helped him gain British citizenship. By age 14, Farah was competing for England, and today he’s Britain’s most successful track athlete in Olympic history.

But despite his traumatic beginning, Farah told in an exclusive off-stage conversation at Web Summit Qatar: “I never viewed it as having an unfair start.” Ultimately, you don’t get to choose the playing field. What matters more, he insists, is how hard you decide to play.

“Give yourself a shot,” he advises struggling young people. “Just keep believing in yourself, keep doing your best every day, and keep being open to learning.”

“It’s going to be tough, but if you get past that, you can overcome anything.”

Gen Z: control what you can, says Mo Farah 

You can’t control the economy. You can’t control the job market. But you can control your effort. And you can control your mindset. That, Farah said, is the powerful difference between those who feel stuck and those who keep moving forward. It won’t fix everything at once, but it’s enough to start changing your trajectory.

“Use my story as a reminder: This is the only thing I can control,” Farah added. For him, that meant showing up to training every single day. For workers, that might mean applying for jobs even after getting countless rejections, or learning new skills and upskilling.

He encouraged Gen Zers to look for even the smallest moments in their lives that they can influence—and start with those. 

“I think a lot of us say, ‘Oh, I can’t do this job. Or I can’t control that.’ But there’s a lot we can control. We might not control this much,” Farah said, spreading his arms wide. “But you can control this small part.”

“The part you can control—try to control it.”

One of the few truly controllable parts of life, Farah pointed out, is your emotional reaction. How you handle losses and how quickly you get back up after being knocked down often matters more than the setback itself.

“When things don’t go well, how do you handle your emotions? What do you do to get past them?” he said, adding that when he was young, if a race didn’t go well, it would have been easy to numb the disappointment by “going out with the boys.”

“But that’s just temporary,” he added. You might feel better for a night. What takes more effort but brings far bigger rewards is learning to manage your emotions, face your flaws, and sit with uncomfortable truths.

Farah said it’s far more productive to turn the situation making you angry into a lesson.

“What do you really need to do? If the race didn’t go well, what could you fix? It’s about learning, but really try to admit that to yourself. It’s so hard for many people to actually admit (why they failed)—and that’s courage.”