Ethiopian middle-distance runner Miruts Yifter, a double Olympic champion at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, has died in Toronto at the age of 72 ©Getty Images

Ethiopian middle-distance runner Miruts Yifter, a double Olympic champion at the 1980 Games in Moscow, has died in Toronto at the age of 72.

Yifter, who won men’s 5,000 metres and 10,000m gold in Russia’s capital 36 years ago, passed away in the Canadian city after being hospitalised for respiratory problems.

Son Biniam and Ethiopian Athletics Federation officials confirmed his death.

Yifter earned the nickname “Yifter the Shifter” at Moscow 1980, where his rapid bursts of speed helped ensure him two gold medals.

His heroics inspired the next generation of Ethiopian runners, including the legendary Haile Gebrselassie, who started running after hearing of Yifter's triumphs in Moscow.

“Miruts has been everything to me and my athletics career,” Gebreselassie, the 10,000m Olympic gold medallist at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, told the Associated Press.

“When I started running, I just wanted to be like him.

“He is the reason for who I am now and for what I have achieved.”

Miruts Yifter won one of his two Olympic gold medals at the Moscow 1980 Games in the men's 10,000 metres ©Getty Images
Miruts Yifter won one of his two Olympic gold medals at the Moscow 1980 Games in the men's 10,000 metres ©Getty Images

Yifter’s Olympic career began at the 1972 Games in Munich, where he claimed the 10,000m bronze medal.

He was due to contest the 5,000m final, but reportedly arrived too late.

Ethiopia were one of 22 African countries that heeded the call for a boycott of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, meaning Yifter was unable to compete.

It came after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand, whose national rugby union team had toured South Africa - banned from the Olympics because of its apartheid policies - earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo.

In the interim, Yifter did the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the both the 1977 and 1979 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cups, held in Dusseldorf and Montreal respectively.

Mystery surrounded Yifter's date of birth during his career, with many suspecting he was older than his official age.

Officially, he was 36 when winning double Olympic gold, although some believed he was already in his 40s.

In 1977, he set a world half-marathon best of 1 hour 2mins 57sec and emigrated to Canada 16 years ago.

Yifter’s family has called on all Ethiopians to give him a heroic welcome when his body arrives for burial in Addis Ababa next week.

He has seven children, most of whom live outside Ethiopia.