European Athletics – (EAA) – News – Britain’s Mohammed draws Mo and Coe comparisons

Great Britain’s Mukhtar Mohammed made a great breakthrough when taking the 800m bronze medal at the 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this month, leading to parallels between him and a certain other well-known former middle distance who hails from his home city Sheffield: Sebastian Coe.

Coe, of course, also got his first major international medal as a senior when he won the 800m at the 1977 European Athletics Indoor Championships in San Sebastian.

Mohammed arrived in Britain from Somalia aged 12 and attended Abbeydale Grange
in Sheffield, Coe's old school as well as that of England international football player Kevin Davies.

“They do compare me to Sebastian Coe, but there is that big difference: he's one of the legends in British athletics and he's the (former) world record holder at the end of the day,” joked Mohammed.

When not being mentioned in the same breath as Coe, who is still the second fastest ever European over two laps of the track, the 22-year-old has regularly found himself mistaken for another double Olympic champion.

“A lot of people actually mistake me for Mo Farah (the 2012 European Athlete of the Year was also born in Somalia); when I'm away people think I'm actually him and even people in the UK think I'm Mo too.”

“Yeah, I've been really inspired by what Mo Farah has done. I've got to know him quite well. We've been to Kenya training together … when I was out in Kenya this winter I kept getting mistaken for Mo. When I went out for my run I could hear everyone shouting, 'Mo, Mo, Mo.' All these kids were coming up to me, trying to run with me. It was really, really funny.”

“I did have a joke about it once and said I was his brother and it went on for 40 minutes, so it was very weird,'' added Mohammed, who is coached by his brother Mustafa and also bagged a bronze medal at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships.

Mohammed’s third place in Göteborg has been a big boost to his confidence his confidence after a disappointing 2012, at least with respect to the big championships, when he failed to make the 800m final of the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and was not selected for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Now Mohammed is looking ahead and will be bidding to the part of Great Britain team at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, although selection will be tough as Andrew Osagie, Michael Rimmer and Gareth Warburton all ran faster than Mohammed last year and the trio were ranked second, ninth and 11^th in Europe respectively.

“It was a really good start for me. Indoors is always good to prepare for the outdoor season. Gothenburg has given me a push for the outdoor season and it's given me a lot of confidence to make the team now because of the medal,” added Mohammed.

“I've got a lot of attention (since Göteborg); it feels good when a lot of people who notice who you are. UK Athletics have really supported me and they've given me six weeks to train and they will cover everything for me, which is really good,” Mohammed told the UK media, en-route to a two week warm weather training camp in Portugal before heading on to French altitude facility at Font Romeu for a month.

European Athletics (EAA) – News