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Allan Wells 1980 Moscow Olympics
For many Scots the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow remain memorable for two principle reasons. Their first recollections, namely the political wrangling and selective boycott of the games, will be shared by many around the world. The second, more powerful memory is Allan Wells becoming Olympic 100m champion.
On 19 July 1980 the world watched as Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev opened the XXII Olympiad. Three months earlier all the international focus had been on his cold war rival, the American President Jimmy Carter. Carter announced in March that as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and their subsequent refusal to leave the troubled country, the American Olympic team would not participate in the games.
Moscow stood firm in the face of criticism. The US was joined in the boycott by over 50 countries including West Germany, Canada, China and Japan. The British Government backed the boycott. The British Olympic Association (BOA) did not. On 25 March 1980 the BOA voted to send the British team to Moscow. The vote was not even close with only hockey opposing the decision to go. The British team, minus the hockey squad and those individuals who did not wish to participate for their own reasons, decided to take their place at the opening ceremony.
While the politicians played their own version of the Olympic Games, participants continued to prepare themselves. For many it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part on the biggest stage their sport offered.
At 28, Allan Wells was considered old for a sprinter but age did not concern him as he travelled to Moscow with medals in mind.
Preparing for the Olympics as a sprinter was not what Wells originally had in mind when his athletics career began. It was the triple jump at which Wells first excelled; he was the 1970 Scottish junior champion. He moved on to the long jump and jumped over 24 feet (7.32 metres) in 1972. While Wells was an able sprinter, he considered himself a long jumper in the world of athletics.
The decision to concentrate fully on sprinting came in 1976 and yielded sparkling results. A time of 10.55 seconds was clocked for the 100 metres and Wells took almost a second off his previous best 200 metres time, to record a 21.42.
At the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the gold medal in the 200 metres event belonged to Wells. He lost out by only 0.04 of a second to the great Don Quarrie in the 100 metres to gain silver. In 1982 in Brisbane, he would take gold over both distances. Wells left Edmonton a champion and in good form.
Progress continued to be made. Wells was the British record holder at both 100 and 200 metres when he travelled to Moscow, having completed his training in his hometown of Edinburgh, then Australia and Cote D'Azur.
The British team joined the lavish opening ceremony in the Lenin Stadium. They marched not behind the Union flag but the Olympic flag, which would also be used at the medal ceremonies.
Wells was a medal prospect going into the start of the 100m event in Moscow. By the end of the second round that had changed; he was now a gold medal contender. Wells ran a blistering 10.11 in the second round. It has since been beaten as a British record but it is a Scottish record that remains unpassed over 25 years later.
Detractors point out that the 1980 Olympic Games were tarnished due to the non-participation of strong countries like the USA and West Germany. The fact remains that the Moscow games saw the setting of 73 Olympic records, 36 world records and 39 European records. In the case of Wells, the 100 metres field for the final contained many first-class sprinters – Silvio Leonard of Cuba, Marian Woronin of Poland, the home crowd favourite Aleksandr Aksinin and Petar Petrov of Bulgaria.
With his wife Margo watching the final from the stands, providing strong vocal support that was relayed to a watching nation by the 成人快手, Wells took to the starting blocks. Wells, who had previously performed in competition without blocks but was compelled to do so due to a rule change, readied himself in his attempt to become the first British sprinter since Peter Radford took bronze in Rome 1960 to win a medal in the event.
Back home, hopes were high that Wells would be the man to strike gold and emulate Harold Abraham who had won the top prize in Paris 1924.
Wells had been drawn in lane eight. Silvio Leonard was far to his left in lane one. It was from the two outside lanes that the drama would come with the bronze medallist emerging from those sandwiched between.
Just 10.25 seconds after the starter's gun had fired, the race was over. Momentum carried Wells, Leonard and the whole field past the finish line but the result was unknown. The Cuban and the Scot had fought neck and neck the whole way down the track and had recorded the same time. The photo- finish print required to be examined. After a wait in which the identity of the gold medallist was the subject of intense debate, Wells was declared the winner. Scottish celebrations began.
For Allan Wells the games were not yet over. Having beaten the world record holder at 200 metres, Italian Pietro Mennea, in the 1979 World Cup in Turin, Wells knew that there was the opportunity for a second gold medal. Wells cruised through to the final, full of the joy that being an Olympic champion brings.
In the final a British record run of 20.21 was superb but Wells could not hold onto the race lead; Pietro Mennea's time of 20.19 was enough to push Wells into second place and bring Italy gold.
While the sprint double had eluded Wells, he departed from Moscow as the Olympic champion of the blue riband event. Today Allan Wells remains a true Scottish sporting hero. Written by: Paul Mitchell | 
