Mo Farah voted Celebrity Dad of the Year

Mo Farah with his Premier Inn Celebrity Dad of the Year award. Picture: PA

Just weeks after winning golds in the 5,000m and 10,000m, Farah was celebrating the birth of twin daughters Aisha and Amani.

The 30-year-old said: “I train to be an athlete but there is no training to be a dad and I’m learning all the time. This award shows I must doing something right, which is a real confidence boost!

“I’m just so happy that people feel I’m being a good dad. It’s such an honour.”

Farah’s wife Tania, with whom he also has a seven-year-old stepdaughter, Rihanna, gave birth to the twins at the end of August after his golden summer. He dedicated his Olympic medals to the babies.

The Somalian-born athlete was in huge demand after his London 2012 victories and had to juggle sleepless nights and nappy changes with appearances on TV shows, numerous photoshoots and awards ceremonies.

He said: “When they were first born it was very difficult.

“It was straight after the Olympics and so I was being asked to attend lots of events, I still had races and so had to train and the girls weren’t sleeping well at night at all - as many newborns don’t.

“Now we have them into a routine it is better but, as I’m sure every parent knows, it’s not easy.

“I suppose the biggest change really is the priorities in my life. To be a top athlete you do have to, at times, be quite selfish but now I have to always consider my girls.”

Speaking from his base in the US where he is preparing to try out the gruelling 26.2-mile marathon, Farah said it is not yet possible to tell if the twins will follow in his footsteps.

They do not have his long legs but “they have got long arms”, he noted.

“I’m not going to push the girls into anything, I’ll just support them as much as I can in whatever they do,” he said.

“Rhianna is doing really well with her taekwondo and I love going to watch her.

“I’ll encourage the twins to lead active lifestyles and we’ll have to wait and see what they choose to pursue.”

His trademark Mobot pose, loved by sports fans worldwide as he crosses the finish line with a beaming smile, has already become unfashionable in his own household.

He said: “Rhianna can do it but she is becoming too ‘cool’ for it now! The twins not yet - not on purpose anyway.”

For the moment Farah is enjoying life in a household where he is the only man among four females.

On whether there are any plans to have a bigger family, perhaps adding a son in to the mix, he said: “You never know what will happen in the future.”