Allan Wipper Wells (born May 3, 1952) MBE is a former Scottish athlete who became Olympic Champion in the 100 m at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. A womens 400m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. ... Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events. ... Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. ... Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events. ... The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada // Medals by country Countries which won medals Medals by event Athletics Bowls Boxing Cycling Track Road Gymnastics Artistic Shooting Pistol Rifle Shotgun Swimming Diving Swimming Diving Weightlifting Wrestling Badminton External link 1978 Commonwealth Games - Commonwealth Games official website Categories: | | ... The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada // Medals by country Countries which won medals Medals by event Athletics Bowls Boxing Cycling Track Road Gymnastics Artistic Shooting Pistol Rifle Shotgun Swimming Diving Swimming Diving Weightlifting Wrestling Badminton External link 1978 Commonwealth Games - Commonwealth Games official website Categories: | | ... The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada // Medals by country Countries which won medals Medals by event Athletics Bowls Boxing Cycling Track Road Gymnastics Artistic Shooting Pistol Rifle Shotgun Swimming Diving Swimming Diving Weightlifting Wrestling Badminton External link 1978 Commonwealth Games - Commonwealth Games official website Categories: | | ... Matilda the Kangaroo mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games (shown here during her circuit of the track at the stadium during the Games Opening Ceremony, and with a silhouette of Matilda and several joey kangaroos on a large screen, during Rolf Harris segment) Matilda turns her head and winks at... Matilda the Kangaroo mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games (shown here during her circuit of the track at the stadium during the Games Opening Ceremony, and with a silhouette of Matilda and several joey kangaroos on a large screen, during Rolf Harris segment) Matilda turns her head and winks at... is the 123rd day of the year (124th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the country. ... A womens 400m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were held in Moscow in the Soviet Union. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...

Biography

Born in Edinburgh, Wells was initially a triple jumper and long jumper where he was Scottish indoor Long Jump Champion in 1974, and started to concentrate on the sprint events in the mid 1970s. 1977 he won the AAA'S Indoor 60 metre title, and won his first of seven outdoor Scottish sprint titles. For other uses, see Edinburgh (disambiguation). ... This article is about the athletics event. ... Long jumper at the GE Money Grand Prix in Helsinki, July 2005. ... Sprints are short running races in athletics. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

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. 1979 he won the European cup 200 metres in Turin, beating the new World record holder pietro mennea. At the start of the 1980 season Wells won the AAAs 100 Metres, then went to Cote D'azur to prepare for the moscow Olympics. Wells never used the starting blocks until a rule change forced him to do so for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Wells charged to 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. Scottish celebrations commenced. The 200 m final was another close affair, but this time Wells won the silver medal losing to Pietro Mennea, who beat him by 0.02 s. With the British relay team, Wells finished 4th, in a new British record. Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Current flag of the Commonwealth Games Federation Locations of the games, and participating countries Commonwealth Games Federation seal, adopted in 2001 The Commonwealth Games is a multinational, multi-sport event. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Silvio Leonard (born September 20, 1955) is a former sprinter from Cuba. ... Pietro Paolo Mennea (born June 28, 1952) is an Italian former sprinter, who held the 200 m world record for 17 years. ...

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 the doubters by subsequently beating the Americans,Africans,West German's, Canadians as well as other nations that did not take part in the Olympics that came over for the remainder of the European athletics season. In 1981 Wells had a successful tour of Australia/New zealand, then won the European cup 100 metres beating the new east german sprint sensation Frank Emmelmann. He then showed yet again he was still world class by winning the most prestegious sprint event on the athletics callander by again soundly defeating the top 4 American athletes in the "Golden sprints" in berlin, an aggregate over 100/200 where wells beat the worlds best, and to add to this he then went on to win the 100 metres at the "World cup" in rome, where he beat the legendry Carl Lewis, along with other top sprinters from around the world. After this he was to go on and beat the Americans yet again in the 200 at a top meeting in belgium. In 1982, Wells won two more Commonwealth titles in the 100 m and 200 m, and Bronze in the relay. He shared the 200m title with Mike Macfarlane of England in a rare dead heat. In 1983 he won his 3rd European cup title by winning the 200 metres beating his old adversery pietro mennea in London. He then went on and finished a respectable 4th in both the sprints at the World Championships in helsinki, although not picking up a medal still beat some top scalps, and could still mix it with the worlds best. In 1984, his second Olympic appearance ended with the 100 m semi-finals. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the year. ...

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 finals. Wells then triumphed with a victory over Linford Christie in the 100 metres at crystal palace in late 1986. One of his last victorys was winning the Inverness Highland Games 100/200 double in 1987.

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.

Trivia

Wells featured in the video for Belle & Sebastian's song "I'm A Cuckoo". This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Im A Cuckoo is a single by Belle & Sebastian. ...

In the mid 1980's Allan was one of the first to be seen sporting cycling shorts a precursor to the now omnipresent lycra running shorts. The sight of these led to him being dubbed Wilson of the Wizard (An athletic comic book character from a bygone age).

Wells was the most recent white male to win gold in the 100m dash at the Olympics 1980 and is often incorrectly referred to as the fastest ever white man. That honour belongs to Marian Woronin who had a personal best of 10.00 set in Warsaw in 1984, Woronin also ran in the moscow 1980 Olympic 100 final finishing 7th. As yet, no white male has ever run under 10 seconds. Wells best was 10.11 in the 100 and 20.21 in the 200. Both still Scotland records to this day. This article is about the color. ... 100 m is the classic sprint race distance. ... Olympic Games Summer Olympic Games Medal count Winter Olympic Games Medal count Olympic sports Medal counts Participating NOCs Olympic symbols Olympics WikiProject Olympics Portal Athens 2004 • Beijing 2008 Torino 2006 • Vancouver 2010 ... Marian Woronin (born 13 August 1956) was a Polish athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. ...

Wells was also famous for his intense physical workouts, which included intense circuit training, and the use of a speedball. Incidentlly while wells ran time trials at meadowbank, Edinburgh, for qualifyication for the 82 Commonwealth games it was recorded by officials he ran a gusty 19.8 in the 200. At the end of 1980 Wells was also awarded Scottish sportsman of the year. After retirement he was a coach for the British Bobsleigh team. His wife Margot Wells was also a Scottish 100/100 hurdles champion, and they are now based at Guildford, Surrey.

Medals