German Police Deny Sir Mo Farah Claims of Racial Harassment

The double Olympic champion was travelling from Munich to Ethiopia in preparation for next month's London Marathon when he alleged he was racially harrassed by a security guard at the airport.

In a video posted on Instagram, Farah is seen saying: "The guy is touching me up like crazy. Pure harassment. Pure, pure, harassment." He later tweeted a video of the incident saying "sad to see racial harassment in this day and age. 2018...!!!! #airport #germany."

However, a spokesperson for the Federal Police at Munich Airport gave ESPN a different account of the incident.

The spokesperson said: "The situation Sir Mo Farah was involved yesterday afternoon can be described as follow[s]: On the way to his flight Sir Mo Farah had to pass the security check in Terminal 2 at Munich Airport. Security checks at Munich Airport are carried out by a private security company on behalf of the State of Bavaria.

"It seemed that Sir Mo Farah did not agree with this passenger security check performed on him and blamed this check a racist measure. Obviously he was very upset.

"As Sir Mo Farah didn't want to leave the security checkpoint, security staff asked the Federal Police officer seen in the video for support. In cooperation with the security staff's supervisor the officer tried to explain this routine measure to Sir Mo Farah and to calm him down. Unfortunately that didn't work. Then the officer asked him to leave the security checkpoint because he was blocking the area.

"Sir Mo Farah got more and more upset. He continued arguing and blaming security staff and the Federal Police Officer being racists. At that point Sir Mo Farah started filming the security check area [which] is not allowed. The officer asked him to stop immediately recording.

"As Sir Mo Farah ignored this police order, the officer asked him to leave the security control area and proceed to his departure gate. Mr. Farah persistently ignored this second police order so the officer slightly touched him and tried to direct him away from the security check area to the shopping and gate section what you can see in the video.

"Finally, the Federal Police officer was properly carrying out his duty. I can not see any indication of racial harassment by the Federal Police officer at all."

Farah, who retired from the track after winning gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000m at the Rio Olympics, is now focusing on road running. His next race is the London Marathon on April 22.