Allan Wells Powers To 100m Gold For Great Britain - Moscow 1980 Olympics

Classic highlights from the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games as Great Britain's Alan Wells wins gold in the men's 100m event.

The absence of the American contingent from the Olympic Games in Moscow did little to lessen the tension and air of expectancy before track and field's blue riband event, the men's 100m.

With the likes of Stanley Floyd and Harvey Glance being forced to watch from home in the United States, the favourites after the early rounds appeared to be Cuban Silvio Leonard, Italian floater Pietro Mennea and Pole Marian Woronin.

The fact that Scotland's Wells was there at all was something of a minor miracle.

The powerful Scot had been subjected to a barrage of propaganda, some from the British government itself, attempting to persuade him to join the boycott.

He went to Russia on the back of some excellent form: he had won the 200m Commonwealth Games gold in Alberta in 1978 and was the British champion over 100m and 200m.

While the likes of Mennea floated over the ground, Wells was a powerhouse sprinter. Barrel-chested and rippling with muscle, Wells possessed a raw power and an iron will which would prove formidable.

He broke the British record in the quarter-final, and his increasingly impressive performances saw him reach the final as one of the favourites.

In his way lay the mercurial Leonard, the multiple Pan-American Games champion.

The two key protagonists were unusually drawn on the inside and outside lanes for the final and with 60 metres of the race over, it was clearly a two-horse race.

Wells looked to have edged clear when he started an extraordinarily early dip for the line. Leonard seemed to strike back in the closing strides, but with both men given the same time it was Wells who won the gold on a photo finish.

He remains the last white athlete to win the men's 100m at the Olympic Games, and was the first Briton to win gold since Harold Abrahams back at the 1924 Games in Paris.

Wells missed out by a whisker on a memorable 100-200m double when the elegant Mennea pipped him at the line in the 200m final.

A matter of days after the Games, Wells accepted an offer to run against the best America could offer and in Koblenz went some way to showing he was the world's fastest man by beating Floyd, Glance and a young Carl Lewis.

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[hollowayranger]

Following the Moscow Olympics, there was some suggestion that Wells's gold medal had been devalued by the boycott of the games. Wells accepted an invitation to take on the best USA sprinters of the day, among others, at a track meeting in Koblenz in Germany. Less than two weeks after the Moscow gold, Wells (10.19) won the final that included Americans[2] Stanley Floyd (10.21), Mel Lattany (10.25), Carl Lewis (10.30) and Harvey Glance (10.31).

[niaohui]

he beat the best americans 2 weeks later (lewis, floyd, lattany and glance) in koblenz

[paulwiley]

Very underrated Wells, people saying he won the Olympic Gold because of this or that, but he was the World's fastest man in 1980...

[raymondward]

probably didnt get the credit he deserved for winning the Olympic gold...he never gets a mention nowadays...

[bikeangelsx]

An absolute hero and legend ! He did so much for sprinting, beating the Americans and Jamaicans too 💪🏼 with only the basic training methods! And still produced good wins 💪🏼Always remember cheering him on in 1980! So deserves more recognition for putting British sprinting in the map👍🏼

[kochFan]

Wells was a Master on the day... not the fastest man in the race... but he always pulled one out of the bag when it really counted. He did the same thing in 1982 Commonwealth games in Brisbane coming from behind to beat Ben Johnson and take Gold. Wells had the ability to focus 100% and perform even when he was not out in front. A Great athlete

[stevennicholas]

People bang on about Americans being missing but the US were not that strong anyway during this era. There's no saying they would have beaten Wells on a cold Russian evening. Wells beat them all twi weeks later.

[andrewjohnstone]

We Scotsmen have always been fleetfooted thats why nobody can keep up with us Alan your a bloody legend never forget that ❤

[davejordan]

You have to feel sorry for Alan wells, never got the credit he deserves, yes they were no Americans there, but you can only beat who you’re racing against and BEAT THEM HE DID , and in an Olympic final, he’s is the 1980 Olympic 100 mtrs champion, NOBODY ELSE IS

[billbailey]

Comparing Bolt to Wells is like comparing Wells to Bobby Morrow or Remigino, completely different eras, doesn't less an Olympic gold medal.

[eddiemglass]

I watched this on BBC television and remember it taking a long time for the result of the photo finish to be announced. In a replay, the BBC put an inset box showing Allan's wife, Margot, screaming "Go, Allan!"
One of my favourite memories of 1980.

[Mediahrtv]

So great to once again see this moment.

[connorduke]

One of my favourite memories of 1980. I remember it well as it was my 90th birthday that day.

[naganokumas]

He was one of my heroes as a kid watching the Commonweath Games. Another was some middle distance bloke called Walker from New Zealand. And Raelene Boyle.

[binkyxz]

1 Allan Wells Great Britain 10.25
2 Silvio Leonard Cuba 10.25
3 Petar Petrov Bulgaria 10.39
4 Aleksandr Aksinin Soviet Union 10.42
5 Osvaldo Lara Cuba 10.43
6 Vladimir Muravyov Soviet Union 10.44
7 Marian Woronin Poland 10.46
8 Hermann Panzo France 10.49

[ftsjr]

The first Brit to win the 100 meter gold since Harold Abrahams in 1924.

[peterhoughton]

Wells, Coe, Ovett. Not a bad haul... and nobody from anywhere would have beaten any of them in 1980.

[golfsolved]

That's how you do it with pure talent

[MrListenerman]

My favourite sprinter from that time....Amazing devotion and dedication to his craft...looked the business too :)

[tullochgorum]

I grew up in Edinburgh running against Wells. Our dads knew each other used to sit together in the stands. I'm proud to say I have an unbeaten record against him - at one point he took up long jumping to avoid me! But that was before he met his wife and started his "medicine ball" training...