Mo Farah, the British-Somali long-distance runner, considered one of the greatest of all time with four Olympic and six World titles to his credit, has officially retired after his last race.
What makes his story even more extraordinary was that his father was killed in Somalia in a genocide when he was four, after which he became separated from his mother and was illegally trafficked to the UK aged 9 and forced to work as a domestic servant. When he was 11 he started attending school and confided in a teacher who arranged to have him fostered by another family. That was when he started competing in athletics. He told Sky News: “In what I went through as a child, sport has saved me, to become the man I have become.” In adult life he reconnected with his mother and two brothers.
Born 23 March 1983, he has a top athlete’s chart with a prominent Neptune opposition North Node square an Aries Sun and Mercury in Pisces. Neptune is surprisingly common in competitive performers’ charts. His pro-active Aries on the focal point of a T square would give him with the confidence despite his rocky start in life to push ahead. Plus he has a do-or-die determined Mars in Aries opposition Pluto stemming from his high-risk childhood which faced him with rolling crises and danger. His Chiron in Taurus is conjunct Algol which is tricky to interpret but it puts his woundedness close to the heart of darkness is the best I can do.
His Sun Mercury are quincunx a Pluto Saturn conjunction which suggests immense strain trying to balance the hardship of his beginnings with his inspirational Fire Sun. What lightens his burden is a lucky, adventurous Jupiter Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius trine his Sun which would give him a crazy optimism that his luck would hold good – which it did.
He won’t find the transition to retirement too easy with tr Pluto squaring his Pluto and Saturn and tr Neptune Saturn squaring his Mercury Sun over the next two or three years. But he’s nothing if not resilient. Once he gets over the upheaval of his SA Pluto conjunct his Uranus next year he has a super-confident SA Pluto conjunct his Jupiter which will help him over the next hurdle.
His leaving-a-legacy 17th harmonic is well aspected and confident as is his 5H.
I’m in awe of Mo Farah.
It’s nice to see a breakdown of his birth chart to give some context to how he has managed throughout his life to achieve so much & still smile.