"Miruts Yifter, the Shifter": Reliving the 1980 Moscow Olympic double victory

Born on this day GINBOT 8, 1936 AMETE MIHRET is one of Ethiopia's greatest long distance runner and double gold medalist in 1980 Moscow Olympics. Captain Miruts Yifter was born in Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia in the district of Adigrat. Miruts spent early parts of his youth in Asmara, capital of the then Ethiopian province, Eritrea, working in different factories and as a carriage driver. His talent as a long-distance runner was noticed when he performed exceptionally in the 1500, 5000 and 10000 meter events in Asmara. Once, it is said, Miruts saw athletes from the Air Force racing in the streets. Miruts begged Captain Gudina Kotu, leader of the team to let him run with these fine athletes. Captain Gudina finally agreed to let this young man run with the rest of the team where he went to unexpectedly win 3rd place. Miruts was so much encouraged by his results that he asked the Ethiopian athletics officials to let him practice with the national team that was making final preparations for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Coach Negussie Roba was impressed by this young athlete and asked the Airforce officers stationed in Asmara to help him join the armed forces where he had a better chance of excelling. With the help of Majors Gudina Kotu and Mekuria Aberra, Miruts was eventually hired by the Ethiopian Air Force and transferred to the Air Force Headquarters in Debre Zeit, about 35 miles East of Addis Ababa. Miruts competed with athletes from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe and excelled in 5000 and 10000 meters with outstanding results. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, Miruts took the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres but did not compete in his 5000m specialty thanks largely to confusion with his team coaches. "My coaches [Mr. Nigussie Roba and the-then assistant Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre] took me to the mixed zone to warm-up and left me there," he painfully recalls. "But then, they arrived late and by the time they took me to the race marshals, the race had already begun." However, when Yifter returned to Ethiopia after the Games, he was dubbed as a traitor and was thrown straight to prison instead of receiving plaudits for his Bronze. "They said that I had deliberately failed to compete and threw me into jail," a tearful Yifter recalls. "They thought that they had taken my love for running, but they were wrong.” Yifter's determination knew no bounds. He continued his training in prison with the prison guards’ help hoping that he would be released in time to compete for Ethiopia in the All-African Games in Lagos, Nigeria a year later. His wishes were granted after three months and he joined up with his Ethiopian teammates in Lagos, where he took the 10,000m gold. Buoyed by his success in West Africa, Yifter hastened his preparations for the Montreal Games in 1976, but after assuring himself qualification for both distances and travelling to the Canadian city, Yifter was left wandering what might have been, as the country joined the African boycott of the Games. "We returned twenty-four hours before the 10,000m semifinals," he says. "On the day we returned from the Games, we had gone out for an early-morning training session with my teammates before the officials and coaches summoned us up and told us to pack our bags. We did it for South Africa, who was fighting against Apartheid. That at least lessened the pain." Undeterred, Yifter continued training on his own even after the team was disbanded by the sports commission. He wanted to be ready when his chance came four years later, but he would be 40 by then and no match for the young field. Or would he? Proving the point that he was not finished, in 1977 and 1979 he took impressive 5000/10,000m doubles for Africa in the IAAF World Cup competitions. "I told journalists who saw me to count my enthusiasm, not my age," he laughs. "I told them you need an Ethiopian motivation to win races." In 1980, with the world looking on, Yifter finally delivered the ultimate tactical blow that saw off his challengers in Moscow. "We talked about it with the coaches and I practiced taking off with 300m to go in both the 5000 and 10,000m races," he recalls. "300m is the ideal mark - not too late, not too early. I listened to the movements of my opponents until five laps remained and then decided on my course of action. The tension start building at the bell, but before they could reassert themselves, I make my move." His tactics gave him the nickname "Yifter the Shifter" after he modified the pace of the race with 300m remaining - a trademark that transformed distance running. His achievements in the capital of the former Soviet Union were all the more astonishing given that he saw off the challenge from Finland’s quadruple Olympic champion Lasse Viren, a man who had proved insurmountable during the 1970's. "He is a great athlete and I still admire him," Yifter says of Viren. "He is a very wise tactical runner, but on that day, he could not take what I had in my legs." Miruts Yifter's triumph continues to be remembered by Ethiopians and people around the world, not only on the scale of the performance on the athletics side, but also for its humanitarian aspect. Who would have thought that a person who have waited for long would be able to accomplish such historic double win at later stage of his running career and in his 40s.



In a long career, Miruts had participated in more than 252 races out of which he won 221 of them by earning the gold medal.In recognition of his outstanding carrer, the World Sport Journalist Association honored Miruts by awarding him the "Golden Shoe".

This biographical sketch is adapted from the following sources: http://www.ethiopians.com/miruts_yifter.htm http://www.iaaf.org/history/OLY/season=2004/eventCode=3201/news/kind=100/newsid=26713.html