# Mo Farah Running Away From Things > Mo Farah Running Away From Things is a 2012 photoshop meme created by designer Luke Harvey, inserting distance runner Mo Farah's arms-wide, agape-mouthed Olympic finish-line image into pop culture scenes as if he's fleeing for his life. Mo Farah Running Away From Things is a photoshop meme built around a photo of British distance runner Mo Farah crossing the finish line at the 2012 London Olympics with his arms spread wide and mouth agape in disbelief. Created on August 12, 2012 by graphic designer Luke Harvey, the Tumblr blog dropped Farah's panicked-looking figure into scenes from movies, TV shows, and pop culture, making it look like the Olympic champion was fleeing for his life. The blog racked up nearly a million hits within days and became one of the defining memes of the 2012 Summer Games[1]. ## Origin Mo Farah won gold in the 10,000-meter race on August 4, 2012, at the London Olympics, becoming the first British athlete to win that event[5]. A week later, on August 11, he took a second gold in the 5,000 meters with a time of 13:41.66, finishing the last lap in a blistering 52.94 seconds[6]. As he crossed the line, photographers captured his face frozen in astonishment[1]. The next day, August 12, 2012, 21-year-old graphic design graduate Luke Harvey from Staffordshire launched the Tumblr blog "Mo Farah Running Away From Things"[5]. Harvey had been watching slow-motion footage of Farah's finish with a friend when the idea struck. "We were laughing and saying you could put some cracking pictures behind it," he told the Daily Mail[1]. His first post dropped Farah into a scene from the 1993 film *Jurassic Park*, making it look like the sprinter was outrunning a Tyrannosaurus Rex[5]. - **Platform:** Tumblr - **Creator:** Luke Harvey (graphic designer, blog creator), Mo Farah (subject) - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview Mo Farah Running Away From Things takes a single photograph of Mo Farah at the exact moment he realized he'd won the 5,000-meter final and places him into dangerous or absurd scenarios. In the original photo, Farah's eyes are wide, his mouth is open, and his arms are spread outward in shock[6]. Stripped from the Olympic context and dropped onto a new background, that expression of joy reads as pure terror. The blog's subtitle described itself as "a tribute to Mo Farah for being a true Olympic legend"[3], and the images showed Farah fleeing from everything from a *Jurassic Park* T-Rex to the Teletubbies to a herd of cartoon wildebeest[1]. ## How It Spread The blog spread fast. On August 13, 2012, both the Daily Dot and Mashable picked up the story[2]. Over the following 48 hours, galleries of the images appeared on BuzzFeed, HuffPost UK, the Daily Mail, Runner's World, Uproxx, the New York Daily News, and the Independent[5]. SB Nation ran their coverage under the headline "Move Over, McKayla: Mo Farah Is The Hot New Meme," positioning it alongside McKayla Maroney Is Not Impressed as the second major photoshop meme to come out of the London Games[4]. HuffPost UK called it "surely a contender for tumblr of the year"[10]. By the time Harvey went to work the next morning, the blog had nearly a million hits[3]. The Independent noted the blog's warm, non-malicious tone as unusual for internet humor, describing it as "nice, nice, nice" in a medium that typically rewards cruelty[3]. Even the British government's official Olympic Twitter account shared the images[1]. Popular entries showed Farah running from Tony Montana in *Scarface*, fleeing a horde of zombies, sprinting away from the Teletubbies, outpacing Wile E. Coyote, dodging the rolling boulder from *Indiana Jones*, escaping Star Wars TIE fighters, and being chased by a crowd of brides in wedding dresses[1][7]. The FW noted the irony that Harvey's creation was "the second great picture meme spawned from the summer games"[12]. ## How to Use The format is straightforward: 1. Take the cutout photo of Mo Farah mid-stride with his shocked expression from the 5,000m finish. 2. Place him onto a background featuring something threatening, dangerous, or comically absurd (movie monsters, cartoon villains, stampeding animals, pop culture threats). 3. Position Farah so it looks like he's running *away from* the threat rather than toward a finish line. ## Cultural Impact Mo Farah Running Away From Things was part of a larger wave of photoshop memes that emerged from the 2012 London Olympics. SB Nation dubbed the Games the "Meme Olympiad," with Farah's blog and McKayla Maroney's unimpressed face leading the charge[4]. The meme stood out for being an entirely positive tribute rather than mockery. Harvey said he hoped Farah would "see the funny side" and that "the whole aim of it was as a tribute to him"[7]. The blog attracted coverage from over a dozen major news outlets within 72 hours of launch[5]. The Independent highlighted the blog's "huggable Helvetica typeface" and fanzine-style subtitle as setting a friendly, fan-made tone[3]. Neatorama noted how Farah's real emotion of joy was perfectly repurposed: "No, he's not panicked, but with the proper menacing background, it sure can look that way"[11]. The meme also boosted Farah's already skyrocketing public profile. He was already a British national hero after completing the rare 5,000/10,000-meter double, joining legends like Emil Zatopek, Lasse Viren, and Kenenisa Bekele[8]. The lighthearted blog added internet fame on top of sporting glory. ## Fun Facts - Farah moved to Britain from Somalia (under circumstances later revealed to involve trafficking) and was trained by Alberto Salazar in Portland, Oregon, far from the British tabloid pressure[8][9]. - The 5,000m final where the iconic photo was taken was actually the slowest Olympic 5,000 final since the 1968 Mexico City Games, but the result was all that mattered[6]. - Harvey described himself as hoping to become a graphic designer and illustrator. The blog was his biggest viral hit[1]. - Farah went on to repeat the 5,000/10,000 double at the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the second athlete after Lasse Viren to defend both titles at successive Games[9]. - The blog launched just one day after Farah's second gold, meaning Harvey turned around his first photoshop within hours of the race[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Mo Farah Running Away From Things? It's a Tumblr blog featuring photoshopped images of British Olympic runner Mo Farah edited into scenes where he appears to be running away from various threats, like dinosaurs, zombies, and cartoon characters[5]. ### Where did Mo Farah Running Away From Things come from? Graphic designer Luke Harvey created it on August 12, 2012, the day after Farah's 5,000-meter gold at the London Olympics. The first image dropped Farah into a *Jurassic Park* scene[1]. ### What does Mo Farah Running Away From Things mean? The meme plays on the fact that Farah's expression of shocked joy when winning looked exactly like a face someone would make while fleeing in terror. It was created as a lighthearted tribute, not mockery[3]. ### How do you use Mo Farah Running Away From Things? Take the cutout image of Farah's mid-race finish and place him onto a threatening or absurd background so it looks like he's sprinting away from danger[11]. ### Is Mo Farah Running Away From Things still popular? The meme's peak was August 2012, when the blog hit nearly a million views within days[3]. It's best remembered as a classic of the 2012 "Meme Olympiad" alongside McKayla Maroney Is Not Impressed[4]. ### Who is Mo Farah? Sir Mo Farah is a British distance runner who won gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He's considered one of the greatest distance runners in history[9]. ### What race produced the famous photo? The photo was taken as Farah crossed the finish line of the 5,000-meter final on August 11, 2012, at the London Olympics[6]. ### Who created the Tumblr blog? Luke Harvey, a 21-year-old graphic design graduate from Staffordshire, England. He made the first image while watching replays of Farah's win with a friend[1]. ### What were the most popular edits? Popular entries included Farah running from a *Jurassic Park* T-Rex, Tony Montana from *Scarface*, zombies, the Teletubbies, Wile E. Coyote, and a crowd of brides[1][7]. ### How fast did the meme spread? The blog launched on August 12 and was covered by Mashable and the Daily Dot by August 13. Within 48 hours, over a dozen major outlets had featured it, and the blog had nearly a million hits[2][3]. ## References 1. [Mo Farah Wins 5,000 Meters at London Olympics - The New York Times]() 2. [Mo Farah's Olympic Glory Is Internet Meme Gold | Mashable]() 3. [Mo Farah Becomes British Olympic Hero, Wins 5,000 and 10,000-Meter Double]() 4. [Mo Farah Running Away From Things - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Unite the Right rally]() 6. [Mo Farah]() 7. [@mofarahrunningawayfromthings on Tumblr]() 8. [Mo Farah running away from things: Olympic hero escaping from zombies and Batman | Daily Mail Online]() 9. [London 2012: Mo Farah running away from things images come from funniest blog ever made - The Mirror]() 10. [Move Over, McKayla: Mo Farah Is The Hot New Meme | SB Nation]() 11. [Mo Farah Running Away from Things - Neatorama]() 12. [PHOTOS: Mo Farah Running Away From Things | HuffPost UK Comedy]() 13. [Mo Farah Running Away From Things Is Our New Favorite Tumblr]() 14. [Go Mo Farah – Britain's great Olympian legs it from a T-rex, marauding brides and more | The Independent | The Independent]() 15. [UPROXX – Music Television and Culture]() 16. [Mo Farah's Olympic Glory Is Internet Meme Gold | Mashable]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/mo-farah-running-away-from-things Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library