Mo Farah appearance on reality TV show could hinder Olympics preparations, say UK Athletics
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Updated 30/10/2020 at 11:55 GMT
Mo Farah is reportedly lining up a appearance on reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, where two weeks in quarantine, and then potentially another three in camp in the ruins of Gwrych Castle in north Wales could harm his preparations for the upcoming Olympics, the chief executive of UK Athletics has warned.
Mo Farah has won the 5,000m and 10,000m at the last two Olympic Games
Image credit: Getty Images
Mo Farah's preparations for the rescheduled 2020 Olympics next summer could be hampered by a rumoured appearance on a reality TV show, says UK Athletics.
Accoridng to reports in the UK media, Farah is set to go in to isolation this week so he can join the cast of the ITV show, before travelling to Gwrych Castle, north Wales, where the latest series is being filmed next month.
The reports also suggest Farah has accepted a £300,000 fee to appear in the show, but UK Athletics are more concerned about how it will affect Farah's training.
“It’s a knife-edge decision,” the UKA chief executive, Jo Coates, said. “For me as a marketer, to have athletes in mainstream TV shows is just perfection. We worked so hard to get netballers into these shows. However – and a big however – you would never want to do that to the detriment of performance.
Part of our communications strategy is about reaching a new audience. That’s what we have to do. And shows like that take our athletes to a completely different audience …but I would never condone it to the detriment of performance because ultimately that’s what they do.
Farah would join a long list of athletes who took part in the show. Former sprinter Linford Christie, who took home an Olympic gold medal in the 100m in 1992 took part in 2010. Silver medal javelin star Fatima Whitbread, 59, came third in 2011 with hockey star Samantha Quek, 32, coming 4th in 2016. Swimmer Rebecca Adlington, 31, who won two golds at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, appeared on the show in 2013.
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