Olympics legend Mo Farah appeared on ITV’s This Morning and revealed how he became separated from his twin brother early in his life, leaving his native Somalia and adapting to life in England.

The athlete came to the ITV studio to promote his autobiography and in it he reveal how he spent his childhood separated from his beloved twin brother and moved to London with no idea what he wanted to be.

In his interview with Philip Schofield and Holly Wilboughby, Mo dismissed reports where people described his childhood as poverty-stricken and surrounded by bullets and bombs. He said this is not true.

Mo also explained how he and his twin brother Hassan became separated for the best part of 12 years. He said the original plan was for all of the family was to travel to England as a family.

But shortly before they were due to fly, Hassan fell ill, which meant he wasn’t able to fly. It was then decided that he, his mum, and other family members would fly to London while Hassan recovered with their extended family in Djibouti. Their plan was always to go back and get Hassan after the rest of the family had settled down. Mo said:

“I thought it would be a matter of weeks or at worst just a few months before we were reunited, but it turned out to be 12 years.”

His autobiography also reveals how he became a track legend with his performances at the Olympics last year.

He talks about one incident where he got into a fist fight with a man who blocked his path during a Christmas Day training session in a London park.

Mo describes how he became caked in mud after rolling round on the grass with the man, who refused to move out of his way.“He was much taller and bigger than me but I did not want to back down,”

Mo says. “Then it all kicked off. Before I knew it, we were having a full-blown fight, rolling around on the ground, trading blows.”