Allan Wells
Allan Wipper Wells (born May 3, 1952) is a former Scottish athlete who became Olympic Champion in the 100 m at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Allan Wells
About Allan Wells
Born in Edinburgh, Wells was initially a triple jumper and long jumper and started to concentrate on the sprint events in the early 1970s.Wells big breakthrough came at the start of the 1978 season when his times and victories began to indicate he may be a force to be reckoned with . It had been many years since a British sprinter had made any impresssion on the International scene and the sight of the powerful Scot taking on and beating top class competition was a major surprise for British Athletics fans . In August 1978, he won two gold medals (200 m, 4 x 100 m) and a silver one (100 m) for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, and became the fastest sprinter in the UK.
Wells never used the starting blocks until a rule change forced him to do so for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Wells reached the final where he faced pre-race favourite Silvio Leonard of Cuba. In a close finish, both Wells and Leonard set a final time of 10.25 s, but Wells crossed the line slightly earlier to become the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time. The 200 m final was another close affair, but this time Wells lost to Pietro Mennea, who beat him by 0.02 s. With the British relay team, Wells finished 4th.
Following the Moscow Olympics there was a general feeling that Well's gold medal had been devalued by the boycott of the games by several major athletic nations the USA in particular . However he silenced many of the doubters by subsequently beating the Americans that came over for the remainder of the European athletics season .
In 1982, Wells won two more Commonwealth titles in the 100 m and 200 m, sharing the 200m title with Mike Macfarlane of England in a rare dead heat. In 1984, his second Olympic appearance ended with the 100 m semi-finals.
Wells missed most of 1985 with injury. He was not selected for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh as he had failed to compete at the Scottish Trials. However, in a stunning comeback, he soundly beat both Johnson and Mahorn, the respective Commonwealth 100m and 200m champions, at Gateshead. Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart and placed a solid fifth in both the 100m and 200m.
Wells' later career was punctuated by injury, but by competing into his mid thirties he helped to set the trend for sprinters to have longer careers.
The Allan Wells connection
I've never formally met Allan Wells, but I have been within a few feet of him. He came to Craigswood sports centre, Livingston to have a look at the new synthetic running track. He tried out the 100m for us then came back indoors. I'll never forget his warmth and friendliness to all around.
Allan Wells Videos
Snippets
Wells featured in the video for Belle & Sebastian's song "I'm A Cuckoo". Allan Wells links
- BBC - A Sporting Nation - Allan Wells 1980 Moscow Olympics
- Scottish sprinter Allan Wells won gold inthe 100 metres event at the 1980 Moscow Olympic games.
- Sporting heroes
- Allan Wells
- Olympics.org
- Allan Wells
Medal record
OLYMPIC GAMES---------------------
Gold 1980 Moscow 100 metres
Silver 1980 Moscow 200 metres
COMMONWEALTH GAMES
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Gold 1978 Edmonton 200 m
Gold 1978 Edmonton 4x100 m
Silver 1978 Edmonton 100 m
Gold 1982 Brisbane 100 m
Gold 1982 Brisbane 200 m
Comments
Allan Wells
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buraian
Nice. How about submitting it to the Squidoo Track and Field group! We need more lenses like this! Posted February 24, 2008 |
BYE!
Hope to see you again soon...
HILLANDGLEN 
