Allan Wipper Wells was born on 3 May 1952 and is a British former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
22 Facts About Allan Wells
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Allan Wells left school at age 15 to begin an engineering apprenticeship.
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Allan Wells was initially a triple jumper and long jumper, and was the Scottish indoor long jump champion in 1974.
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Allan Wells never used starting blocks, until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics.
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Wells finished with an extreme lean which allowed his head and shoulder to cross the finish line 3 inches before Leonard's chest in a photo finish; both men were given a final time of 10.25 s Wells became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time at the age of 28 years 83 days.
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Allan Wells accepted an invitation to take on the best USA sprinters of the day, among others, the ASV Weltklasse track meeting in Cologne in West Germany.
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In 1981, after a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Allan Wells won the European Cup 100 metres, beating East German Frank Emmelmann.
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Allan Wells then won the "IAAF Golden sprints" in Berlin, which was the most prominent sprint meeting in the world that year.
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Allan Wells won the 100 metres at the IAAF World cup in Rome, beating Carl Lewis; Allan Wells then finished 2nd in the world cup 200 in 20.53.
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In 1982, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Allan Wells won two more Commonwealth Games titles in the 100 m, a wind-assisted 10.02.
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Allan Wells shared the 200 m title with Mike McFarlane of England in 20.43 in a rare dead heat.
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Allan Wells was not selected for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986, as he had failed to compete at the Scottish trials.
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Allan Wells gained additional attention at Gateshead for being the first to be seen sporting the now common Lycra running shorts.
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Allan Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals.
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Allan Wells had a victory against Linford Christie at Crystal Palace at the end of 1986 in 100 m at 10.31.
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Since 1982 Allan Wells has lived in Surrey, with his wife Margot.
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Allan Wells coached the Bank of Scotland specialist sprint squad alongside another former Scottish sprinter, Ian Mackie.
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Allan Wells ran a wind-assisted 10.02 in Brisbane, 1982, and 20.11 in Edinburgh, 1980.
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Allan Wells was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 Birthday Honours for services to athletics.
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Allan Wells was inducted alongside Eric Liddell and Wyndham Halswelle into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.
21.
Allan 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.
22.
In July 2014, Allan Wells received, along with his wife Margot, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University.