Mo Farah is hoping for a positive start to 2016 at the Great Edinburgh International XCountry run this weekend as he prepares to defend his Olympic titles in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Mo Farah, defending Olympic 5,000m and 10,000 champion (on starting 2016 brightly):

"I'm really excited to be here in Edinburgh, I haven't been here for a while, last time I was here was in 2011. I came out here to test myself and see who I am and hopefully it should be a good race tomorrow."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Mo Farah, defending Olympic 5,000m and 10,000 champion (on why he's running the XCountry race in Edinburgh):

"It's different, it's different, the weather is different and it's not like a track race, it's cross-country. It's one of those things where you want to test yourself early on in the season, this is like January. Hopefully, with the Olympics in August, it's a step to Rio."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Mo Farah, defending Olympic 5,000m and 10,000 champion (looking ahead to the defending his two Olympics titles in Rio):

"It's exciting, it's exciting. It's not like London where you're going into it with an Olympics in your hometown. But I'll go and defend my title. I'm just going to take it like another race but I'm excited and hopefully, if I can pull off the double again, it would be incredible."

Journalist: "Well, you're the man to beat, are you mindful of that? That you are on the radar of others?"

"I have to be, I am. Definitely everybody is watching me but at the same time it motivates me and I'm excited and hopefully looking forward to it."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Mo Farah, defending Olympic 5,000m and 10,000 champion (asked if 2016 can be a fresh start for athletics after a turbulent end to 2015):

"2016 is going to be exciting and we'll just see what we can do. Obviously it will take time but I want to be able to run against clean athletes. We'll do what we can."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Mo Farah, defending Olympic 5,000m and 10,000 champion (asked if he is concerned about the general public perception of athletics and recent allegations made in relation to the sport):

"As a country we lead by example and we just want to be able to apply the same rules as we apply, for other countries to apply (them).Unfortunately there's not quite the same… Hopefully we'll see what we can do."