Southend United's Yonis Farah inspired by cousin Mo Farah's Olympic gold medal display

Mo defended his 10,000m title with a stunning performance in Brazil at the weekend.

And Yonis was overjoyed to see him pick up yet another major title.

“Mo is a massive inspiration to me and a huge idol too because he shows hard work beats talent when talent fails to work,” said the teenage left-back.

“But he also teaches me to stay humble, to keep grafting and to be a good person, which is important.

“I’m so proud of him because I know how hard he has worked to retain the Olympic 10,000 medal.”

Mo has dominated long distance running since winning two gold medals at London 2012.

Inspired - Blues' left back Yonis Farah

But Yonis revealed his family were still jumping for joy following his latest success in Brazil.

“My whole family came over to watch and we were all screaming and jumping as he ran through the finish line,” said Yonis.

“My family all went to see him run in London in his last race before Rio and he did say he was in good shape.

“He said he was ready for it and hopefully he can do well in the 5,000m now as well.”

Mo, who begins his quest for another gold in the 5,000m heats tomorrow, finished first despite falling in the early stages of his 10,000m race.

But Yonis – who shone as an athlete himself when he was younger - is now focused on securing his own success with the Shrimpers.

“It’s another important season and we want to try and win our league,” said the youngster.

“We want to have a very good run in the FA Youth Cup too and for me, personally, I want to make sure I’m starting regularly.

“I also want to try and make my under-21 debut and that’s another target for me.”

But Yonis’ immediate aim is to bounce back from Saturday’s disappointing 3-0 defeat to Stevenage.

“We started the season really well with a 5-0 win against Wimbledon but we were all very frustrated with the Stevenage game,” said the defender.

“We need to make sure we do much better in our next game now.”