Farah: British athletes need to put in the hard work

DOUBLE European champion Mo Farah has called on his fellow British athletes to increase their workload if they are to follow his lead.

WORKING HARD: Mo Farah has been putting in the hard yards and he wants his fellow British athletes to follow his lead (Reuters)

Farah has spent long periods over the last 18 months in Kenya training with the likes of World Cross Country champion Joseph Ebuya and 2008 Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Micah Kogo.

The hard work paid off when he grabbed gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the European Championships in Barcelona last month and he followed that up by breaking Dave Moorcroft's 28-year-old 5000m British record.

Farah is the first to admit that seeing the Kenyans training opened his eyes to a new work ethic and he insists he will continue to put in the hard yards with October's Commonwealth Games next on his agenda.

He said: "I think more British athletes, and athletes in general, need to adopt that attitude because if you want something you need to work hard in life and keep working.

"Nothing comes given to you on a plate. Seeing the Kenyans training really makes you think, ‘if they are working that hard and producing the results then that's what I need to be doing'.

"If I'm not doing what they are doing to get to that highest level then what chance am I going to have on a world stage?"

Farah is not the first to call on British athletes to raise their game with former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell brandish British sprinters lazy last year.

And Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medallist David Oliver has claimed that the British funding system too often rewards mediocrity.

But Farah insists he is only just beginning to realise his potential.

He added: "I'm just starting to scratch the surface of what I can achieve. Every athlete wants to go to an Olympics and win an Olympic medal.

"Running fast is great and getting records is great but a medal is a medal - there for you forever."

Sam Crompton, Patrick Gysin and Emma Kennedy