Mo Farah, the gold medal-winning UK Olympian distance runner, has engaged crisis PR counsel in the wake of a report that he missed two drug tests in the run-up to the 2012 Games.
Farah is working with Freuds, the PR firm of UK PR maven Matthew Freud. He responded to the reports in a Facebook post today, denying any use of illegal drugs.
"I have never taken performance enhancing drugs in my life and I never will," he said, noting he has taken hundreds of drug tests, all negative. Farah said the "rumors and speculation about me ... are completely false" and made him "angry, frustrated and upset."
The Daily Mail, citing emails between anti-doping officials and Farah's camp, reported this week that the athlete missed tests in 2010 and 2011. A third missed test would have counted as a positive test.
Farah reportedly told anti-doping officials that he did not hear the doorbell on one occassion when they called on his home.
The news follows an earlier BBC documentary report that alleged Farah's coach, Alberto Salazar of Nike's Oregon Project, gave a banned steroid to another athlete, Galen Rupp, in 2002. Salazar denies that claim.
The Somali-born Farah is training in France, acccording to the Guardian.
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