Mo Farah celebrates birth of twin daughters

Proud new dad Mo Farah in Birmingham (Getty Images)

Olympic gold medal hero Mo Farah was celebrating his second double success of the summer today after his wife gave birth to twin girls.

The Team GB runner, who took gold in the 10,000m and 5,000m at the London games, described their arrival as "very exciting" and said he was present when Tania gave birth yesterday.

Mrs Farah was pictured heavily pregnant in the Olympic Stadium cheering her husband on alongside his stepdaughter Rihanna, before rushing onto the track to embrace him.

She gave birth just under two weeks after her husband's second triumph in the 5,000m in a memorable final in Stratford.

"My wife has been holding on so long and it's great that she held on this long and didn't give birth on the track (at the Olympics)," he said.

Asked to compare fatherhood to winning Olympic gold, he said: "It's completely different. It's out of your control, it was weird, but as a father I'm very proud. To have three kids in the family is going to be exciting."

He added: "If my wife has another two more twins boys I'll be a happy man. It runs in the family, so maybe that's why we're having twins."

He added that Rihanna was "very excited" by the new arrivals.

They have yet to decide on names, he said, but he planned to get their names inscribed onto the medals once they have.

Asked whether he had shown the newborns his medals, he said: "No I didn't, but they are waiting.

"I am actually going to get their names on it, once we've figured out something with the medals - one on each. And then whatever one was born first gets the 10,000m and the other gets the 5,000m one."

The Somalia-born athlete became only the seventh man to win the long-distance Olympic double, with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe - himself a former Olympic champion in 1980 and 1984 - hailing Farah as "probably the greatest runner this country has produced".

Farah spoke at a press conference ahead of the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix, where he will run a two-mile race tomorrow in which he could threaten Steve Ovett's 34-year-old British outdoor record of 8:13.51.

He told Sky News that he would not be rushing back to the capital to see them today.

"No, no, no, I've got a race tomorrow, haven't I," he said.

PA