Sir Mo Farah has been told to carefully consider his training as speculation increases about the four-time Olympic champion appearing in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Farah has been tipped to be one of the stars this year in the long-running popular reality television show, which is being held at Gwrych Castle in Wales after coronavirus prevented filming in Australia as usual.
UK Athletics chief executive Joanna Coates would ordinarily welcome the extra exposure the sport would receive with Farah appearing on prime time TV on a nightly basis.
But with next year's rearranged Tokyo Games looming on the horizon, where Farah is set to defend his 10,000 metres title, Coates has urged the long distance runner to think about whether it could hamper his preparation.
"It's that knife-edge decision. For me as a marketer, to have athletes in mainstream TV shows is just perfection," Coates said.
"However – and a big however – you would never want to do that to the detriment of performance. I would imagine there have been lengthy conversations.
"If he is there, there will have been lengthy conversations about whether this would affect performance.
"The fact that it's in Wales and not as long a time is very different from many weeks in Australia."
