Miruts Yifeter Poem by Alem Hailu Gabre Kristos

Running out of
Oxygen, burning out
When contenders feel like
Dropping dead,
In an unexampled manner
Summoning a vestige
Of energy
Bringing into play
A new strategy,
Miruts Yifter Ethiopia's
Olympic legend
Used to surge ahead
Demonstrating a race
Is a sport of foot, lung
And head.
That is why
A commentator
Christened him
'Miruts Yifter
The gear changer! '
'I dare say
Catching up with him
There is no way
Once, he broke away! '

Two golds in 5 thousand
And 10 thousand meter race
In Moscow Olympic
With a gear-changing tactic
What a trick, what a trick!
What a story to children
And grandchildren to tell
Recalling minutest
Detail well! '

In our childhood,
With people
In the neighborhood
Our eyes
To TV screens glued
We used to relish
Miruts' sprinted finish
Forcing rivals
Winning dreams
To relinquish!

After the medal
Putting on ceremony,
Heading to
Our football pitch
We used to run round,
Round, round and round
Till exhausted ourselves
We found!

It is adopting
Miruts' footprint
Haile, Derartu, Kenenisa,
Tirunesh, Selershi and
Meseret sprint!
This formula grand
Gradually has found
Its way to Kenya
And England
May be tomorrow
To sire lanka or America!