Zane Robertson in the 2016 Olympic Games. Photo / Getty
Zane Robertson in the 2016 Olympic Games. Photo / Getty
New Zealand 10,000m record holder Zane Robertson claims to have witnessed the alleged assault by the legendary Mo Farah.
A gym employee at a hotel in Ethiopia accused Farah of grabbing him by the neck and shoving him, a second allegation of assault that emerged following an extraordinary public feudbetween the four-time Olympic champion and retired distance-running great Haile Gebrselassie.
Chala Diriba, a gym instructor who works at the Yaya Village hotel owned by Gebrselassie, told The Associated Press the assault happened a year ago on one of the British runner's training trips to the East African country.
Mo Farah is accused of assault in the gym at Haile Gebrselassie's hotel. Photo / Getty
Diriba said Farah was angry after accusing the instructor of copying one of his training regimes.
In defence of Farah, Robertson posted a now-deleted tweet in which he claimed to have witnessed the alleged gym assault.
"I've been witness to all that's happened in Yaya Village with Mo Farah," Commonwealth Games medallist Robertson wrote."'The fight' at the gym is blown up to be more than it was.
"Mo's room was broken into and his watch and money taken. I've also had money stolen while staying at Yaya Village."
Last night, Roberston posted another tweet saying he wanted to add "truth" to the standoff.
"I'm completely neutral on this situation I just wanted to add my truth to the situation. The fight was nothing! Yes Money and a watch went missing, probably shouldn't have brung [sic] it up at the press conference!" he posted.
Gebrselassie, a two-time Olympic champion from Ethiopia, claimed that Farah also assaulted two athletes, a man and his wife, on a separate visit to the same hotel this year.
Farah's representatives say there was "an incident'' at the hotel gym a few weeks ago but it was "not of Mo's making.''
They said Farah was the victim of "threatening behaviour'' without giving more details of the incident. They said Gebrselassie was not present during the incident.
Retired distance-running great Haile Gebrselassie. Photo / Getty
In a Times report on Friday (NZT) Gary Lough, Farah's coach, claimed last month's dispute arose because an Ethiopian was copying Farah's weights programme in the gym. After asking him not to, another man came striding over to Bashir Abdi, Farah's training partner.
"He looked like he was going to attack Bashir," Lough claimed. "Mo went to defend Bashir and they go into a bit of an altercation. Then the wife came running at Mo. He had his back to her and when he turned around she got hit on the arm. It was purely accidental. Then she is picking up dumbbells and threatening to throw them at him. I'm screaming at her to put those things down."
Lough said the woman represented the police at athletics so they were called and the couple made threats against him and Farah.
"The police took them very seriously and it went to the head of the police region. They were told if they came anywhere near us they would be arrested. It was all resolved, it was all good."
Farah's representatives declined to comment on the other alleged assault last year.
The squabble between Farah and Gebrselassie became public Wednesday when Farah said he had money, two cellphones and a valuable watch stolen while staying at Gebrselassie's hotel last month and the hotel "never took responsibility.''
That led Gebrselassie to detail what he called Farah's "disgraceful conduct'' while staying at his hotel. He also accused Farah of leaving without paying his hotel bill in full.
Farah, who completed the Olympic 5000m-10,000m double in 2012 and repeated it in 2016, will run this weekend's London marathon.
