A furious war of words erupted between Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie on Wednesday night after the Ethiopian accused the four-time Olympic champion of ‘attacking a married athlete’ in response to Farah’s revelation that he was robbed while staying at Gebrselassie’s hotel.
Farah had claimed he had a watch, two phones and £2,600 in cash across four currencies stolen from his room at Gebrselassie’s Yaya Village Resort near Sululta on March 23 – his 36th birthday.
Farah went on to angrily criticise Gebrselassie for not returning multiple messages about the incident, before an explosive response from the double Olympic champion.
In an astonishing statement, Gebrselassie said a report was made to police over Farah allegedly ‘attacking a married athlete' in the hotel gym.
When contacted by Sportsmail, Gebrselassie’s agent Jos Hermens confirmed the authenticity of the statement but was unable to clarify the nature of the ‘attack’, after which Gebrselassie claims police charges were dropped following his mediation.
In further claims, Gebrselassie said there were ‘multiple reports of disgraceful conduct, which was not expected from a person of his calibre, and his entourage during his stay, by hotel staff’. It added that when Farah left the hotel after a two-month stay he did not pay his bill of 81,000 birr (£2,168) and that he would be legally pursuing Farah for defamation.
spokesperson for Farah told Sportsmail: 'Mo is disappointed with this statement and the continued reluctance by the hotel and its owner to take responsibility for this robbery. Mo disputes all of these claims which are an effort to distract from the situation, where members of his hotel staff used a room key and stole money and items from Mo Farah’s room (there was no safe as it was faulty, and Mo requested a new one).
'Police report confirm the incident and the hotel admitted responsibility and were in contact with Mo’s legal advisor. The hotel even offered to pay Mo the amount stolen, only to withdraw the offer when he prematurely left the hotel and moved to other accommodation, due to security concerns. Despite many attempts to discuss this issue privately with Mr Gebrselassie, he did not respond but now that he has, we would welcome him or his legal team getting in touch so that this matter can be resolved.'
Farah, who was in Ethiopia to prepare for Sunday’s London Marathon, had made the stunning row public in a routine pre-race press conference.
Having stayed in to the hotel from January 18, he discovered after returning from a training run on March 23 that his suitcase had been ransacked, with a Tag watch missing in addition to £800, 20,000 birr (£534), $1500 (£1159) and 100 Euro (£86) and two phones.
Farah attempted to contact Gebrselassie after growing frustrated with what he considered police inactivity and was left fuming after the double Olympic champion did not return his messages.
-Dailymail