When a pair of thieves in the UK happened upon what they thought was an unattended cell phone, all they had to do was pick it up and go.
However, there was just one problem: the phone belonged to Mo Farah, one of Britain’s most decorated track athletes.
The 41-year-old four-time Olympic gold medalist was out for a run with his wife, Tania Nell, last week when he left his phone on the side of a private road leading to their home in Surrey, England. As the couple left for their run, Farah witnessed a white van approach carrying two men who hopped out and swiped his phone, according to The Times.
After the men got back in their van, Farah chased them down at “full throttle,” according to a witness. He reportedly caught up with the van “easily,” and when he did, the thieves returned his phone without further incident. According to The Times, a formal investigation into the incident is underway.
As reported by People magazine Farah is one of Britain’s most decorated track athletes. He won gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters during the 2012 London Olympics and again during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Throughout his career, he also won six gold and two silver medals at the World Championships.
This is also not the first time Farah has had a run-in with thieves. In 2019, he claimed his hotel room at YaYa Africa Athletics Village was broken into on his 36th birthday. In the incident, he alleged a locked case had been opened, and two phones were stolen along with a watch that had been a gift from his wife and his cash.
“Someone in reception had given my key to someone and someone has gone in and opened my room and opened my suitcase. It was locked on a code. And someone taken my two phones, taken my money, taken my watch that my wife got me that you can’t buy,” Farah told The Associated Press.
He further claimed the hotel group, owned by fellow former Olympian runner Haile Gebrselassie in Ethiopia, “never took responsibility” for the incident. Gebrselassie’s hotel group issued a statement at the time disputing the claims and accusing Farah of skipping out on the $3,000 bill.