| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1952-05-03)3 May 1952 (age 72) Edinburgh,Midlothian, Scotland |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Great Britain Scotland |
| Event(s) | 100 metres 200 metres |
Medal record | |
Allan Wipper WellsMBE (born 3 May 1952) is a British formertrack and fieldsprinter who became the100 metres Olympic champion at the1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.[1] In 1981, he was both theIAAF Golden Sprints andIAAF World Cup gold medallist. He is also a three-timeEuropean Cup gold medallist.
He was a multiple medallist for Scotland at theCommonwealth Games, winning two golds at the1978 Commonwealth Games and completing a100 metres/200 metres sprint double at the1982 Commonwealth Games. Wells also recorded the fastest British 100/200 times in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 100 m in 1984.
Born inEdinburgh, Wells was educated at Fernieside Primary School and thenLiberton High School. He left school at age 15 to begin an engineering apprenticeship.[2] He was initially atriple jumper andlong jumper,[2] and was the Scottish indoorlong jump champion in 1974.
He began concentrating onsprint events in 1976. In 1977 he won theAmateur Athletic Association (AAA) Indoor60 metres title, and won his first of seven outdoor Scottish sprint titles.
In the 1978 season, his times and victories continued to improve. He set a new British record at Gateshead 10.29, beatingDon Quarrie andJames Sanford, and also won the UK 100/200 Championships. At theCommonwealth Games inEdmonton, Alberta, Canada, he won thegold medal in the 200 m andsilver in the 100 m.[2] He also won the4 × 100 m running the second leg withDrew McMaster,David Jenkins andCameron Sharp running the other three legs.[3]
This success continued in 1979, when he won the European Cup 200 metres inTurin, Italy, beating the new world record holderPietro Mennea 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 theCôte d'Azur to finish preparing for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. He never used starting blocks,[4] until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics.[2] Prior to the Olympics, he was put under pressure byMargaret Thatcher in the boycott of the games led by the Americans.[clarification needed][5] He responded by declining all media requests.[6][2] His Olympic participation was threatened by chronic back pain that struck him shortly before the games began. Each day, he underwent four exhausting treatment sessions that left him too tired to train. Instead, when not undergoing treatment, he spent his time relaxing.[6]
In Moscow, Wells qualified for the final, with a new British record 10.11 s, where he faced pre-race favouriteSilvio Leonard ofCuba. Wells finished with an extreme lean which allowed his head and shoulder to cross the finish line 3 inches (76 mm) before Leonard's chest in a photo finish; both men were given a final time of 10.25 s.[2][7] Wells became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time at the age of 28 years 83 days.[8]
The 200 m final was another close affair. Wells won the silver medal behindPietro Mennea, who beat him by 0.02 s;[2] 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.
In a later interview, Wells said the two issues he faced prior to the games were inadvertently key factors in his success. He said in an interview toThe Scotsman, "When we got to Moscow, [my wife and coach] Margot and I decided that I'd do six starts and see how it went. The fourth and fifth were full-out as if I was competing and I asked Margot what she thought: she said they were the best she'd ever seen me do. The rest had done me a lot of good, I was really fresh and committed, and those starts gave me the psychological edge over everyone else, which was key because the Olympics is all about your mental aptitude. You're at your fastest when you're relaxed and flowing (Wells' 10.11secs to qualify for the 100m final remains the Scottish record) rather than having to be aggressive."[citation needed]
Following the Moscow Olympics, there was some suggestion that Wells's gold medal had been devalued by the boycott of the games. Wells accepted an invitation to take on the best USA sprinters of the day, among others, the ASV Weltklasse track meeting inCologne in West Germany. Less than two weeks after the Moscow gold, he won the final in Cologne in a time of 10.19s, beating AmericansStanley Floyd (10.21),Mel Lattany (10.25),Carl Lewis (10.30) andHarvey Glance (10.31).[2][6] Lattany went straight over to Wells after crossing the line to say, "For what it's worth, Allan, You're the Olympic champion and you would have been Olympic champion no matter who you ran against in Moscow."[2]
At the end of 1980, Wells was awarded Scottish Sports Personality of the Year.[citation needed]
In 1981, after a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Wells won theEuropean Cup 100 metres, beating East GermanFrank Emmelmann.[9] Wells also finished 2nd in the 200 m.[9][10]
He then won the "IAAF Golden sprints" inBerlin, which was the most prominent sprint meeting in the world that year. Although finishing second to the FrenchmanHermann Panzo by 0.01 secs in the 100, Wells won the 200 beating the top four American sprinters Mel Lattany, Jeff Phillips, Stanley Floyd, Steve Williams as well as Canada'sBen Johnson in the 100/200, 10.15/20.15 (200 wind assist) for Wells to win the event in an aggregate 30.30.
Wells won the 100 metres at the IAAF World cup in Rome, beatingCarl Lewis; Wells then finished 2nd in the world cup 200 in 20.53. Afterwards, he beat Mel Lattany and Stanley Floyd again, when he won a 200 in 20.26 in theMemorial Van Damme meeting inBrussels, Belgium.[citation needed]
In 1982, inBrisbane, Queensland, Australia, Wells won two moreCommonwealth Games titles in the 100 m, a wind-assisted 10.02. and then the 200 m, and abronze medal in the relay. He shared the 200 m title withMike McFarlane of England in 20.43 in a raredead heat.[11]
In 1983, he won his third European Cup title by winning the 200 metres in 20.72, beating his old adversary Pietro Mennea in London, and again took 2nd in the 100 m.[12]
He then finished 4th in both the 100/200 sprint finals at the IAAF World Championships inHelsinki.
At age 32,[13] he reached the 100 m semi-finals at the1984 Los Angeles Olympics,[14] 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 theCommonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986, as he had failed to compete at the Scottish trials.[15] However, on 5 August atGateshead, he beat bothBen Johnson andAtlee Mahorn, the respective Commonwealth 100 m and 200 m champions.[16]
Wells gained additional attention at Gateshead for being the first to be seen sporting the now commonLycra running shorts.[17] The sight of these led to him being dubbedWilson of the Wizard (a comic book character).[18]
Wells was consequently selected forStuttgart in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals.[19] He also had a victory againstLinford Christie atCrystal Palace at the end of 1986 in 100m at 10.31. One of his last victories was winning the Inverness Highland Games 100/200 double in 1987. In 1987 his best time was 10.28 and he qualified for the Rome World Championships but hewas injured.
Although his later career was plagued by repeated back injuries, he still won a career total of 18 medals at major championships before retiring in his mid-30s. He and Don Quarrie and Pietro Mennea set a trend for sprinters in their mid thirties to compete longer in the late Eighties.[20]
Since 1982 Wells has lived in Surrey, with his wifeMargot.[18] After retirement, he was a coach for the Britishbobsleigh team. Margot was also a Scottish 100/100 hurdles champion. They are now based inGuildford, Surrey where she is a fitness consultant, and Allan is a retired systems engineer. Allan coached theBank of Scotland 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 theMoscow 1980 games, and both are still Scottish records.
He also ran a wind-assisted (+5.9 m/s) 10.02 in Brisbane, 1982 (still the track record as of August 2024 which he shares with Rohan Browning of Sydney, Australia from April 2023), and (+3.7 m/s) 20.11 in Edinburgh, 1980.
In June 2015, a BBC documentary (Panorama:Catch Me If You Can) uncovered allegations by Wells' former teammate of historical doping by the 1980 Olympic 100m champion, beginning in 1977. Wells denied the allegations.[21]
As of August 2024, Wells holds two track records for 200 metres, both of which had wind-assistance. They areTurin (20.29, 1979, +2.2 m/s) andVenice (20.26, 1981, +8.5 m/s).
Wells was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the1982 Birthday Honours for services to athletics.[22] He was also inducted alongsideEric Liddell andWyndham Halswelle (two other former Scottish Athletic Olympic Champions) into theScottish Sports Hall of Fame.
Wells was the first baton holder for theQueen's Baton Relay for the2014 Commonwealth Games, carrying the baton fromBuckingham Palace in London in October 2013.[23]
In July 2014, Wells received, along with his wife Margot, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University.[24]
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Commonwealth Games champions in men's100 metres | |
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| 100 yards (1930–1966) | |
| 100 metres (1970–present) |
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Commonwealth Games champions in men's200 metres | |
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| 220 yards (1930–1966) | |
| 200 metres (1970–present) |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
