(MENAFN- Gulf Times) For once Mo Farah was merely good rather than extraordinary-and for once he did not mind a jot. Britain's 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic and world champion had planned to take down Dave Moorcroft's long-standing 3,000m British record of 7:32.79-one of the few UK middle-distance records he does not now own-but heavy legs soon persuaded him otherwise.
Instead, he was content to bask in both an easy victory and the melodious acclaim of his home crowd. Some had feared that Farah might get a mixed reaction because of his late withdrawal from last month's Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, which upset some punters who had paid £50 for grandstand seats. But when he appeared on the giant TV screens an hour beforehand to tell the crowd, "Hello everyone, I'm back, show your support!" he received a warm, if not wildly raucous, reception.
The 40,000 crowd was just taking its time to warm up. The volume was ratcheted up several notches when he appeared on the track-before blasting out its appreciation when he took the lead with 500m remaining, coming through to win in 7:34.66.
Afterwards Farah called the crowd "amazing" and claimed the support of the public ever since the accusations about his coach, Alberto Salazar, had first surfaced had been "incredible".
"It was amazing to get the support I got,,, it reminded me of 2012 and it was so exciting to be back in the stadium, the stadium which has changed my life," he said. "It's not often you get the Olympics right on your doorstep and to win two gold medals changed my life."
"I wasn't nervous," he added. "You do what you do best, which is run and enjoy it."
In the end his time was good enough to be a new stadium record but outside Moorcroft's best.
"To be honest I was interested in the British record but I felt a bit tired at the start and I didn't feel that good. Sometimes as an athlete you have to make a decision," he said. "I was looking at the screen and I thought, 'Do I want to win the race or do I want to go for time?'"
And, as he revealed afterwards, there was something else that had made him weary. Last Friday he had flown back to Portland in the United States for his daughter's 10th birthday. "I was a little bit tired after Monaco," he added. "I went back home. You know it's important for me because family means everything. We had a good party for her and then I came back, so I was tired. I go training tomorrow so I won't see my family until after the World Championships.
"It was good to see the twins but one of them was really disappointed because I dropped her off at school and her mum picked her up and she was like 'Where is daddy?' And because I was on a plane she was so angry."
Farah also confirmed that this would be his last race before he goes to his training camp in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees to prepare for next month's World Championships in Beijing.
He also deftly deflected questions about Salazar. "I just love and enjoy what I do," he said. "I'm not a politician-Mo Farah just runs." And how.
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