Mo Farah has opened up about the impact his gruelling training routine has on his family life. The double Olympic gold medal winner said he is now focusing on spending time with his wife Tania and their four children following his success in Rio, but admitted it can take time to adjust to being back at home.
Speaking during an appearance on This Morning with his wife, Mo told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby of how he spends his time following a big competition such as the Olympics.
Mo Farah and his wife Tania appeared on This Morning on Tuesday
"I try to get back to my normal life and see my kids, eat a good meal… I do still run, it's not as intense when training, as every hour is calculated, but I still run once or twice a day." Mo said, adding: "[To win those medals] it is a massive sacrifice - six months of the year I'm away from my family.
It's hard and sometimes very difficult when the kids are ill or are not doing as well as they should do at home or school, you want to be there for them - but my career is so short and you just have to make the most of it."
Tania also admitted that is a struggle for her at times to look after the couple's four children – Rihanna, 11, twins Aisha and Amani, four, and ten-month-old son Hussein – when Mo travels away from home for training.
Mo said it is hard spending so much time away from his family
"The first couple of weeks he's away is an adjustment, that's the hardest part, and then when he returns the same again - in between you just get conditioned to it," she said. "It's difficult [for the kids when he returns] because we've suddenly got Dad again and the kids don't know what to do with themselves, like 'do we get close to him or do I not because he’s going to go again?'..."
However all of the hard work and sacrifices paid off, with Mo taking gold medals for both the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the Rio Olympics, four years after achieving the same feat in London's 2012 games.
Mo said of his achievement: "It was amazing, every athlete's dream and to do it at London, here at home, and then to carry on four years and then manage to pull off the double [in Rio] is pretty amazing."