Mo Farah forced to defend himself over links with drugs probe after claiming Rio 2016 gold medal

‘Every athlete knows someone. When someone asks for your picture you aren’t going to say no, are you?’

The Briton was asked about his links to coach Jama Aden after retaining his 10,000m title (Getty)

Mo Farah was questioned after winning Olympic 10,000m gold about why he has associations with three controversial coaches, one of whom has been accused of anti-doping violations and another who has been arrested.

Farah declared that the gold was arguably his finest of all, after he fell early in the race and recovered to win in the Olympic Stadium. But he was asked in his press conference about his continued links with his coach Alberto Salazar, who is being investigated by the US Anti-Doping Agency, as well as Jama Aden, coach to runner Genzebe Dibaba, who was arrested in June as part of a drugs surveillance operation.

Farah said that any suggestion he may have been photographed visiting the house of Aden was simply a result of him agreeing to a photograph by someone asking for one.

“Obviously it's a small sport,” Farah said. “Every athlete knows someone. When someone asks for your picture you aren't going to say no, are you?”

British Athletics has said that Farah's relationship extended only to shouting out times as Farah did laps round the track in the Ethiopian town of Sululta in 2015. Despite this, Farah was also photographed with Aden in February when he trained alongside some of the Somali's athletes at another camp in Ethiopia.

Farah didn't flinch when the Salazar doping controversy was put to him. He said: “I believe in clean sports and you do what you can. But you only control yourself.”