Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a Scottish former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion for Great Britain at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 1981, he was both the IAAF Golden Sprints and IAAF World Cup gold medallist. He is also a three-time European Cup gold medallist.

Wells was a multiple medallist for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, winning two golds at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and completing a 100 metres/200 metres sprint double at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. He also recorded the fastest British 100/200 times from 1978–1983 and the fastest 100 m in 1984.

Biography

Early years and long jump

Born in Edinburgh, Wells was educated at Fernieside Primary School and then Liberton High School. He left school at age 15 to begin an engineering apprenticeship. and was the Scottish indoor long jump champion in 1974.

Commonwealth and European sprint titles

He began concentrating on sprint events in 1976. In 1977 he won the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) Indoor 60 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, beating Don Quarrie and James Sanford, and also won the UK 100/200 Championships.

At the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he won the gold medal in the 200 m and silver in the 100 m.

This success continued in 1979, when he won the European Cup 200 metres in Turin, Italy, beating the new world record holder Pietro Mennea on his home ground; he also finished 3rd in the 100 metres.

1980 – Olympic success and the Koblenz showdown

At the start of the 1980 season, Wells won the AAA's 100 metres. He then went to the Côte d'Azur to finish preparing for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He never used starting blocks, until a rule change forced him to do so for the Olympics. In response he declined all media requests. Aged 28 years and 83 days, Wells was the oldest Olympic 100 m gold medalist at that time.

He won the 200 m silver medal 0.02 s behind Pietro Mennea. Wells also finished 2nd in the 200 m.

He then won the "IAAF Golden sprints" in Berlin, which was the most prominent sprint meeting in the world that year. Although finishing second to the Frenchman Hermann 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's Ben 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, beating Carl 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 the Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

Later sprinting career

In 1982, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Wells won two more Commonwealth Games titles in the 100 m, a wind-assisted 10.02. and then the 200 m, and a bronze medal in the relay. He shared the 200 m title with Mike McFarlane of England in 20.43 in a rare dead heat.

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.

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

At age 32, 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 in 1986, as he had failed to compete at the Scottish trials. However, on 5 August at Gateshead, he beat both Ben Johnson and Atlee Mahorn, the respective Commonwealth 100 m and 200 m champions.

Wells gained additional attention at Gateshead for being the first to be seen sporting the now common Lycra running shorts. The sight of these led to him being dubbed Wilson of the Wizard (a comic book character).

Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals. He also had a victory against Linford Christie at Crystal Palace at the end of 1986 in 100 m 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 he

was 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.

After competitive retirement

Since 1982 Wells has lived in Surrey, with his wife Margot.

As of August 2024, Wells holds two track records for 200 metres, both of which had wind-assistance. They are Turin (20.29, 1979, +2.2 m/s) and Venice (20.26, 1981, +8.5 m/s).

Honours and awards

Wells was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 Birthday Honours for services to athletics. He was also inducted alongside Eric Liddell and Wyndham Halswelle (two other former Scottish Athletic Olympic Champions) into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.

Wells was the first baton holder for the Queen's Baton Relay for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, carrying the baton from Buckingham Palace in London in October 2013.

In July 2014, Wells received, along with his wife Margot, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University.

References

  • NO EASY WAY: Allan Wells, One Man's Olympics at National Library of Scotland's Moving Image Archive