MO FARAH ATTENDS ENCAENIA

Sir Mo Farah, CBE, is a British long-distance runner with multiple Olympic, World and European titles, which include the ‘double double’ of gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He attended Encaenia on June 25, 2025, where the University gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.

Before the ceremony, Professor Alex Betts, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement, Sport, and Community), spoke to Sir Mo.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PPBwM0VQ3NM?si=jWUpF0hovU8uy9KU

After the ceremony QUAD spoke to Sir Mo as well, following up on some of the points raised in video. In particular we wanted to know whether Sir Roger Bannister had said anything of note when meeting Mo.

Mo replies, ‘it was the 2000s. Roger said to me: ‘KEEP GOING!’

We then asked another question knowing that Sir Mo is famous for his long-distance reliability and speed while keeping a devastating sprint up his sleeve. Where does a Four Minute Mile fit in his repertoire? The pacing, duration and speed are all higher than he would normally pursue. ‘A mile distance means a completely different training schedule, and you have to train for that event, for that distance.’

Born in Somali Democratic Republic in 1983, Mo was illegally trafficked to the United Kingdom via Djibouti, at the age of nine, where he was given the name Mohammed Farah and was forced to work as a domestic servant. He made this public in July 2022 and we asked him about it. He says that sport has been the basis for overcoming hardship and other headwinds such as race, ethnicity and language, and he recognises that education is also a powerful basis for the same – twin vectors of personal empowerment in the face sometimes of powerful obstacles.

Sir Mo is passionate about philanthropic work and is a Save the Children Ambassador. He has recently embarked on ‘Mo’s Mission’, working with the Youth Sport Trust to encourage young people to be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day.

The University is working towards a more inclusive Oxford, partnering with schools, building cultural programmes, being a recognised place of Sanctuary and shaping an inclusive economy.

But one of the biggest initiatives is building bridges between University and local community through sport. The University has recently built a Sport Leaders Programme focused on Year 8s from six secondary schools in Oxford. This involves receiving sports coaching from Blues athletes in different sports, having lunch in a college, and hearing from inspiring academics about research linked to sport, such as mathematical modelling for football, laws and rules in sport, the anthropology of crowd behaviour, the media and sport, neuroscience and brain injury. University students are involved in designing the programme through the SDG Impact Lab and with support from Vincent’s Club.

Another initiative concerns the Bannister Miles, a community Mile first run on May 6, 2024, also the 70th Anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister’s sub-Four-Minute-Mile record. It is now being hosted as an annual event in Oxford, and took place again earlier this year. The University is also building partnerships with local sports clubs, including one with Oxford City FC, the oldest football club in Oxford. The partnership has seen the University displayed on the City FC shirts, both for the men and women’s first teams and for the youth teams. There are ambitious plans to develop our Iffley Road sports centre, in ways that can benefit students, staff, and the wider community.