London: Athletics icons Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie are locked in a bitter dispute just days away from the London Marathon with claims of robbery and an unpaid hotel bill at the heart of the row.
Britain’s quadruple Olympic champion Farah, aiming to win Sunday’s race, wrapped up his pre-marathon press conference with claims that Gebrselassie had made no effort to recover items stolen from his room at the Ethiopian’s hotel near Addis Ababa.
Farah was staying at the hotel in late March as part of training for Sunday’s prestigious race.
Gebrselassie — a two-time Olympic champion -— hit back by accusing Farah of not paying his heavily discounted hotel bill and claimed in a statement to media that only thanks to his intervention had an assault charge brought by a fellow guest against the Briton been dropped.
Farah, in hardly ideal preparations for taking on world record holder and defending champion Eliud Kipchoge on Sunday, said on Wednesday that around £2,500 pounds ($3,200) had been stolen on March 23 -- his 36th birthday — along with a watch given to him by his wife Tania.
Farah denied Gebrselassie’s accusations, saying they were 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”.
