LONDON, England, October 15 – Mo Farah said Tuesday he does not plan to compete at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The reigning Olympic 5,000 metres and 10,000m champion, would be eligible to run for England at an event where the United Kingdom is split into its four constituent nations — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Instead his main target for 2014 is to run in the London Marathon, with Farah saying the Commonwealth Games “is not on my list”.
But Farah said he’d still to decide if he’d run the marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“I don’t know. It just depends how I come off that marathon,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “My aim is to do the London Marathon and that is what I am fully focused on.
“It’s a bonus if I do it, but it is not on my list,” added Farah, born in Somalia but brought up in London, of the Commonwealth Games.
“I’ve got to come off the marathon healthy and then I’d make a decision. You’ve just got to choose one race.”
Were Farah to duck out of running in Glasgow, it would deprive organisers of the Commonwealth Games — a multisport event for countries once part of the British Empire — of a major drawcard.
Farah followed his Olympic triumph by doubling up to win both 5,000 and 10,000m gold at this year’s World Championships in Moscow.
Given he can only repeat himself in the two longest track races, Farah is now considering whether to take on the extended challenge of the marathon in Rio.
“It all depends on how London goes,” the 30-year-old said. “(The) Olympics is a big one. After London I’ll have a chat to my coach.”
“It’s pretty crazy to say that in my first ever marathon I’m going to shave three minutes off,” Farah said.
“If you look at the world record it’s slowly been broken before, from 2:04, 2:03. To say I’m going to shave that off is completely crazy.
“I don’t think (two hours) is going to be broken in the next 10 years or even beyond that, maybe even 100 years, because if you think about it, it’s really difficult.
“The rumours actually started because my sponsors, Nike, are working on a shoe called ‘Sub Two-Hour’.
“They keep working on that, and that’s how the rumours started. I never actually said it.”
