Allan Wells

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Allan Wipper Wells MBE (born May 3, 1952 in Edinburgh ) is a former British athlete and Olympic and World Cup winner .

Wells was initially a long and triple jumper and focused on the sprint distances from the early 1970s. At the Commonwealth Games in 1978 he won gold twice (200 m, 4 × 100 m relay) and once silver (100 m). In the late 1970s and early 1980s Wells was one of the most successful sprinters in Europe. At the European Athletics Cup he won gold (1981), silver (1983) and bronze (1979) over 100 meters, and gold (1979, 1983) and silver (1981) over 200 meters.

Wells never used starting blocks until he was forced to do so by a rule change before the 1980 Moscow Olympics . The strong US team boycotted the games, which was believed to be the reason Wells made it to the 100m final. Wells won the race in the comparatively slow time of 10.25 s and was the oldest 100-meter Olympic champion at the time. He dedicated this victory to Eric Liddell , who had become Olympic champion in the 100-meter run in 1924 and was like Wells Scot . Wells finished second over 200 meters and fourth in the 4 x 100 meter relay .

Wells competed against the best American sprinters in Koblenz in the same year, and with a time of 10.19 s he won against Stanley Floyd , Mel Lattany , Carl Lewis and Harvey Glance, among others . Also at the World Cup in Rome in 1981 he was able to assert himself again against the American competition with a victory over the 100 m and a second place over the 200 m.

In 1982 he won gold over 100 and 200 meters at the Commonwealth Games. However, Wells could no longer keep up with the world's best and only reached the semi-finals of the 100-meter race at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles .

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personal data
SURNAME Wells, Allan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wells, Allan Wipper (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British athlete
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Edinburgh , Scotland