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Born in Edinburgh, Wells was initially a triple jumper and long jumper and started to concentrate on the sprint events in the early 1970s. In 1978, he won two gold medals (200 m, 4 x 100 m) and a silver one (100 m) at the Commonwealth Games, and became the fastest sprinter in the UK.
Wells never used the starting blocks until a rule change forced him to do so for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. With the strong American team absent due to their boycott of the Games, Wells reached the final where he faced pre-race favourite Silvio Leonard of CubaAlternate meanings: see Cuba (disambiguation The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago in the northern Caribbean, in between the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. To the north are found the United States and the Bahamas, to the west M. 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. The 200 m final was another close affair, but this time Wells lost to Pietro MenneaPietro Paolo Mennea (born June 28, 1952) is an former Italian sprinter, who held the 200 m world record for 17 years. Mennea, who was born in Barletta, started his long international athletic career in 1971, when he debuted at the European Championships w, who beat him by 0.02 s. With the British relay team, Wells finished 4th.
In 1982Events January January 6 William Bonin is convicted of being the "freeway killer". January 8 AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara du, Wells won two more Commonwealth titles in the 100 m and 200 m, but he could no longer compete with the world's best sprinters. In 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe, his second Olympic appearance ended with in the 100 m semi-finals.
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 100 m |
| Tom Burke | Frank Jarvis | Archie Hahn | Reggie Walker | Ralph Craig | Charlie Paddock | Harold Abrahams | Percy Williams | Eddie Tolan | Jesse Owens | Harrison Dillard | Lindy Remigino | Bobby Joe Morrow | Armin Hary | Bob Hayes | Jim Hines | Valeri Borzov | Hasely Crawford | Allan Wells | Carl Lewis | Linford Christie | Donovan Bailey | Maurice Greene | Justin Gatlin |
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Post-war British Olympic champions in men's athletics |
| 1956 Chris Brasher (3000 m steeplechase) | 1960 Don Thompson (50 km walk) | 1964 Ken Matthews (20 km walk) | 1964 Lynn Davies (long jump) 1968 David Hemery (400 m hurdles) 1980: Allan Wells (100 m) | 1980 Steve Ovett (800 m) | 1980 & 1984 Sebastian Coe (1500 m) | 1980 & 1984 Daley Thompson (decathlon) | 1992 Linford Christie (100 m) | 2000 Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) | 2004 Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis (4 x 100 m relay) |