EARLIER this week, Mo Farah took part in a live question-and-answer session on Twitter with the hashtag #AskFarah. Suffice to say, it didn’t quite go as planned.

‘If you had to give up drugs or your gold, what would you choose,’ asked one correspondent. ‘Why did you change your winter base from Kenya, with minimal testing, to Ethiopia, with NO testing,’ inquired another. ‘Do you think anyone with half a brain believes in your donkey to racehorse transformation story,’ was one of the more measured comments.

Farah is the most successful British distance runner of all time. As one of only two men to complete the ‘double double’ of winning the 5,000m and 10,000m at successive Olympic Games, he is unquestionably one of the greatest athletes ever to have graced the track. In the immediate aftermath of his double success in Rio, Brendan Foster led the calls for him to be knighted.

Yet if it came to a popularity contest, the polite, engaging 33-year-old would find himself at the back of just about any field. Rarely, if ever, can a British sportsman have achieved so much, yet been afforded so little love or praise.

Why? There are multiple reasons. Race perhaps plays a part, along with Farah’s backstory as a Somalian immigrant who first came to England at the age of eight. To many though, Farah will forever be viewed as an athlete whose refusal to address some uncomfortable questions about his past, or distance himself from some tainted associates, means his probity remains unclear.

There is the continued tie-up with coach Alberto Salazar, who was alleged to have violated anti-doping rules in 2012, the admission to taking the banned stimulant Qaat before it was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list, and the two missed drugs tests prior to London 2012.

Farah has never been found guilty of a doping offence, and there is no evidence to suggest he has taken banned substances that should have shown up on a test. Nevertheless, in the court of public opinion, many have already determined his guilt.

“As an athlete at a high level, people are always going to be asking questions,” said Farah. “That’s just the way it is. That’s what happened (on Twitter), but there were also some great messages with people saying they were behind me and cheering for me.

“As an athlete, you just have to concentrate on yourself and do what you can do. That’s running. There’s a lot said in the media and other stuff, but at the end of the day, I just do what I can do.

“I know what I do, and that’s work hard and make sacrifices, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I’ve been able to achieve.”

Nevertheless, every achievement seems to come with an asterisk attached, every triumph is accompanied by a series of knowing glances and whispered accusations.

Farah’s 5,000m success in Rio should have been the greatest triumph of his career, but instead of being showered with accolades in the post-race press conference, he found himself having to restate his innocence in the face of a series of hostile comments.

In part, that is his own fault for being so evasive about his past, and refusing to clear up some of the continued uncertainty about his relationship with Salazar in particular. But it cannot have been easy to have to sit there, with his wife, Tania, who is running the Great North Run herself for the first today, stepdaughter, Rihanna, and daughters, Aisha and Amani, in the room.

“That’s what really gets me upset and tetchy,” said Farah. “As a father, you don’t want your kids to have to listen to anything bad about you. But at the same time, that’s the reality, and it’s what comes with it.

“I know I’m 100 per cent about what I’m doing. I’m giving it everything I can, and that’s all you can do. But as a parent, it’s not a nice thing. But it’s what comes with it. Anyone who has ever done anything, it comes with a lot of things.

“You just have to deal with it and try to enjoy it. What I love is representing my country, being on the podium, and winning medals for my country. That, to me, is worth more than anything else in terms of everything I do.”

Farah has achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve on a running track, but one accolade continues to evade him. For all the medals and titles, all the years of toil and sacrifice, he has never finished in the top three of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

Some see the honour as a meaningless triviality, but it is a decent gauge of public opinion, and Farah does not come out of it well. Perhaps things will change come December, although with a host of other Olympians set to be posited against him, he is not holding his breath.

“I grew up in England, watching Match of the Day and everything else,” he said. “Then at the end of the year, everybody watches the Sports Personality of the Year. I’ve watched it down the years, and seen so many great legends win it.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m glad Kelly Holmes won, or David Beckham’. There’s so much history, and in terms of history, it would be nice to be able to say, ‘I’ve won that’. But at the same time, I don’t lose sleep over it.

“I know I have my medals forever. No one can take them away from me. That’s what will stay with me. If I was to win Sports Personality, it would be great. But if I don’t win, I won’t be losing any sleep. It would be an amazing thing to have on your CV, but it’s not something in your control.”

What is in Farah’s control is ensuring continued success on the track and roads. Last month’s double Olympic success elevated the Londoner to a level never before seen in British distance running, and he is already planning a redevelopment of the ‘man cave’ in his home that houses all his framed medals as well as a full-size pool table and big-screen TV.

Another Great North Run triumph would not have quite the same lustre as his multiple Olympic successes, but it would represent another notable career achievement given the quality of the names that have tried, and failed, to claim three successive titles.

Benson Masya was the last person to win back-to-back men’s Great North Run titles in 1992, with Liz McColgan the last woman to record a follow-up success in the women’s race before Mary Keitany emulated Farah by triumphing in 2014 and 2015.

Keitany is not competing this year, so Farah will be assured of his place in the history books if he is the first man to cross the finish line at South Shields.

“Maybe if I do it, I’ll do the Shearer celebration,” he said. “It would be nice to be able to make history. Mentally since the Olympics, I’ve been telling myself I just have to get through one more race. It’s the last race, and I want to do as well as I can.

“It would be great to make history. It’s always amazing to make history, and that’s what drives me as an athlete.”