For the English cricketer, see Alan Wells

Alan Wells

Alan Peter Wells is an English cricketer. He played for Sussex from 1981 to 1996, where he was captain from 1992 to 1996. He then played for Kent from 1997 to 2000...

.

Allan Wipper Wells MBE

MBE

MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...

(born 3 May 1952) is a former Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 athlete, who became Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 Champion in the 100 metres

100 metres

The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...

 at the 1980 Summer Olympics

1980 Summer Olympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Biography

Born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Wells was educated at Liberton High School

Liberton High School

Liberton High School is a secondary school in Gilmerton, in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland. The head teacher is Donald J. Macdonald.The school currently has about 750 students studying...

. Wells, initially a triple jump

Triple jump

The triple jump is a track and field sport, similar to the long jump, but involving a “hop, bound and jump” routine, whereby the competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit.The triple jump has its origins in the Ancient Olympics and has been a...

er and long jump

Long jump

The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...

er and crowned Scottish indoor Long Jump

Long jump

The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...

 champion in 1974, began concentrating on sprint events in 1976. In 1977 he won the AAA's Indoor 60 metres

60 metres

60 metres is a sprint event in track and field athletics. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes...

 title, and won his first of seven outdoor Scottish sprint titles.

Wells's big breakthrough came at the start of the 1978 season, when his times and victories began to improve, and he won the UK 100/200

200 metres

A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...

 Championships. British sprinters had made little impression on the international scene, and the sight of the Scot

Scot

A Scot is a member of an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland, derived from the Latin name of Irish raiders, the Scoti.Scot may also refer to:People with the given name Scot:* Scot Brantley , American football linebacker...

 winning two gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s (200 m, 4 x 100 m

4 x 100 metres relay

The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race...

), and a silver

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 (100 m) at the Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, was a surprise for British athletics fans.

This success continued in 1979, when he won the European Cup 200 metres in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Italy, beating the new World record holder Pietro Mennea

Pietro Mennea

Pietro Paolo Mennea is an Italian former sprinter and politician, who was the 1980 Moscow Olympic 200 meter Champion, and also held the 200 m world record for 17 years.-Biography:...

 on his home ground; he also finished 3rd in the 100 metres.

At the start of the 1980 season, Wells won the AAA's 100 metres, then went to the Côte d'Azur to finish preparing for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Wells never used starting blocks, until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics. In Moscow, Wells qualified for the final, with a new British record 10.11 s, where he faced pre-race favourite Silvio Leonard

Silvio Leonard

Silvio Leonard Sarría also known as Silvio Leonard Tartabull is a former sprinter from Cuba. He was the second athlete to run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds with electronic timing, running in 9.98 seconds on August 11, 1977 in Guadalajara. The first was 1968 Olympic champion Jim Hines...

 of Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. By 60 metres the field were fading, and by 80 metres the race was between Leonard on the inside and Wells on the outside. Wells edged ahead, but Leonard drew even again. With seven metres to go Wells began an extreme lean which allowed his head and shoulder to cross the finish line 3 inches (76.2 mm) before Leonard's chest in a photo finish. Afterward both Wells and Leonard set a final time of 10.25 s, but Wells became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time.

The 200 m final was another close affair. Wells made up the stagger after only 50 metres. Coming out of the turn he had a two-metre lead over Leonard, with Quarrie and Mennea close behind. But Mennea shifted gears in the straight until he caught Wells with 10 metres to go. Wells attempted a final dip which had brought him victory in the 100, but he fell short, and Wells won the silver medal behind Pietro Mennea, who beat him by 0.02 s; again he set a British record of 20.21 s.

He went on to break a third British record, 38.62 s, with the sprint relay team that finished fourth in the final. Following the Moscow Olympics, there was a general feeling that Wells's gold medal had been devalued by the boycott of the games; however afterwards he beat all-comers after the games in Germany, which included the best American sprinters Mel Lattany, Stanley Floyd, Carl Lewis and Harvey Glance.
At the end of 1980, Wells was also awarded Scottish sports personality of the year.

In 1981, after a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand, Wells won the European Cup 100 metres, beating East German Frank Emmelmann

Frank Emmelmann

Frank Emmelmann is a retired East German sprinter who specialized in the 100 and 200 metres....

. Wells also finished 2nd in the 200.

He then demonstrated his calibre by finishing first in the "IAAF Golden sprints" in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

; which was the most prominent Sprint Meeting in the World that year. Although defeated by the Frenchman

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Hermann Panzo

Hermann Panzo

Hermann Panzo was a French athlete who mainly competed in the 100 metres. He was twice French 100 metre champion....

 in the 100, Wells dominated the top four American sprinters Mel Lattany, Jeff Phillips, Stanley Floyd, Steve Williams as well as Canada's Ben Johnson in the 100/200, 10.15/20.15 (200 wind assist) Wells winning the events in an aggregate 30.30.

To add to this, Wells won the 100 metres at the IAAF World cup in Rome, beating the American Champion and world's fastest 100m performer of the year which was 10.00 by Carl Lewis

Carl Lewis

Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is an American former track and field athlete, who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold. His career spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...

; Wells then finished 2nd in the world cup 200.

Afterwards, he beat the top Americans Mel Lattany and Stanley Floyd again, when he won a 200 in the Memorial Van Damme

Memorial Van Damme

Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September...

 meeting in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

In 1982, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Wells won two more Commonwealth

Commonwealth

Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...

 titles in the 100 m, a wind assisted 10.02. and then the 200 m, and a bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 in the relay. He shared the 200 m title with Mike McFarlane of England in a rare dead heat

Tie (draw)

To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football. "Draw" is usually used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations and it is usually used for sports such as...

.

In 1983, he won his 3rd European Cup title by winning the 200 metres, beating his old adversary Pietro Mennea in London, and again took 2nd in the 100.

He then went on and finished 4th in both the 100/200 sprint finals at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

.

He reached the 100 m semi-finals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and was a member of the relay team that finished 7th in the final.

Wells missed most of 1985 with injury. He was not selected for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh

1986 Commonwealth Games

The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...

 in 1986, 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 100 m and 200 m champions, at Gateshead

Gateshead

Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...

. Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals. To add to this, he also had a victory against Linford Christie

Linford Christie

Linford Cicero Christie OBE is a former sprinter from the United Kingdom. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games...

 at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland and also usurping part of the former grand prix circuit.It was...

 at the end of 1986. One of his last victories was winning the Inverness Highland Games 100/200 double in 1987.

Wells's later career was punctuated by injury, but by competing into his mid-30s he helped to set the trend for sprinters to have longer careers.

After retirement, he was a coach for the British bobsleigh

Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled that are combined to calculate the final score....

 team. His wife Margot Wells

Margot Wells

Margot Wells was a successful sprinter and Scottish 100/100 hurdles champion. She is based in Guildford, Surrey where she is an elite sprint and fitness coach....

 was also a Scottish 100/100 hurdles champion, and they are now based at Guildford

Guildford

Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 where she is a fitness consultant, and Allan is a systems engineer. Wells was also inducted alongside Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell

Eric Henry Liddell was a Scottish athlete, rugby union international player, and missionary.Liddell was the winner of the men's 400 metres at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...

 and Wyndham Halswelle

Wyndham Halswelle

Wyndham Halswelle was a British athlete, winner of the controversial 400m race at the 1908 Summer Olympics, becoming the only athlete to win an Olympic title by a walkover....

 (two other former Scottish Athletic Olympic Champions) into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame

The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame in Scotland, initiated on St Andrew's Day 2001. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and the National Museums of Scotland. It is also funded by BBC Scotland and...

. Allan currently coaches the Bank of Scotland

Bank of Scotland

The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a history dating to the 17th century, it is the second oldest surviving bank in what is now the United Kingdom, and is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland to...

 specialist sprint squad alongside another former Scottish sprinter, Ian Mackie.
Wells's personal best for the 100 metres is 10.11, and for the 200 metres is 20.21, run at the Moscow 1980 games, and both are still Scottish records.

Records

Wells was the last white man to win an Olympic 100m final. Indeed 1980 was last time a white athlete made it to the men's 100m final.

In 1979 he ran a wind assisted 10.0 in the 100 metres in Grangemouth.

In 1980 he ran a wind assisted 9.2 in the 100 yards in Edinburgh.

In 1982 Wells also ran a wind assisted 19.8 in the 200 metres at a time trial for the Commonwealth Games in Meadowbank, Edinburgh.

Wells also recorded the fastest British 100/200 times from 1978,79,80,81,82, 1983,and 100m in 84.

Medals

External links

• 'Thatcher tried to blackmail us not to go to Moscow. That made me very angry'. Article from The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...