Alan Wells

In June 2015, a BBC documentary (Panorama: Catch Me If You Can) uncovered allegations by Wells' former teammate of historical doping by the 1980 Olympic 100m champion, beginning in 1977. Allan Wells forcefully denies the allegations.

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 July 2014, Allan Wells received, along with his wife Margot, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University.

He then demonstrated his calibre by finishing first in the "IAAF Golden sprints" in Berlin; which was the most prominent Sprint Meeting in the World that year. Although finishing second to the Frenchman Hermann Panzo by 0.01 secs in the 100, Wells emphatically won the 200 beating the top four American sprinters Mel Lattany, Jeff Phillips, Stanley Floyd, Steve Williams as well as Canada's Ben Johnson in the 100/200, 10.15/20.15 (200 wind assist) for Wells to win the event in an aggregate 30.30.

To add to this, Wells won the 100 metres at the IAAF World cup in Rome, beating the American Champion and world's fastest 100 m performer of the year which was 10.00 by Carl Lewis; Wells then finished 2nd in the world cup 200.

He then went on and finished 4th in both the 100/200 sprint finals at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki.

Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals. To add to this, he also had a victory against Linford Christie at Crystal Palace at the end of 1986. One of his last victories was winning the Inverness Highland Games 100/200 double in 1987.

Wells missed most of 1985 with injury. He was not selected for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986, as he had failed to compete at the Scottish trials. However, in a stunning comeback, he soundly beat both Johnson and Mahorn, the respective Commonwealth 100 m and 200 m champions at Gateshead.

He reached the 100 m semi-finals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and was a member of the relay team that finished 7th in the final.

In 1983, he won his 3rd European Cup title by winning the 200 metres, beating his old adversary Pietro Mennea in London, and again took 2nd in the 100.

In 1982, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Wells won two more Commonwealth titles in the 100 m, a wind assisted 10.02. and then the 200 m, and a bronze medal in the relay. He shared the 200 m title with Mike McFarlane of England in a rare dead heat.

In 1981, after a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand, Wells won the European Cup 100 metres, beating East German Frank Emmelmann. Wells also finished 2nd in the 200.

At the start of the 1980 season, Wells won the AAA's 100 metres, then went to the Côte d'Azur to finish preparing for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Wells never used starting blocks, until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics. Prior to the Olympics he was put under pressure by Margaret Thatcher in the boycott of the games led by the Americans. Wells responded by declining all media requests. His Olympic participation was threatened by chronic back pain that arrived 2½ weeks before the games began. Each day he underwent four exhausting treatment sessions each day that left him too tired to train. Instead when not undergoing treatment he spent his time relaxing.

At the end of 1980, Wells was awarded Scottish Sports Personality of the Year.

Wells's personal best for the 100 metres is 10.11, and for the 200 metres is 20.21, run at the Moscow 1980 games, and both are still Scottish records.

This success continued in 1979, when he won the European Cup 200 metres in Turin, Italy, beating the new World record holder Pietro Mennea on his home ground; he also finished 3rd in the 100 metres.

He was a multiple medallist for his native Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, winning two golds at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and completing a 100 metres/200 metres sprint double at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Wells also recorded the fastest British 100/200 times in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 100 m in 1984.

In the 1978 season his times and victories continued to improve, he clocked a new British record at Gateshead 10.29, beating Don Quarrie and James Sanford, he also won the UK 100/200 Championships. At the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he won the gold medal in the 200 m and silver in the 100 m. He also won the 4 × 100 m running the first leg with Drew McMaster, David Jenkins and Cameron Sharp running the other three legs.

He began concentrating on sprint events in 1976. In 1977 he won the AAA's Indoor 60 metres title, and won his first of seven outdoor Scottish sprint titles.

Born in Edinburgh, Wells was educated at Fernieside Primary School and then Liberton High School. He left school at age 15 to begin an engineering apprenticeship. Wells was initially a triple jumper and long jumper and crowned Scottish indoor long jump champion in 1974.

Allan Wipper Wells MBE (born 3 May 1952) is a former British track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Within a fortnight of that, he also took on and beat America's best sprinters at an invitational meeting in Koblenz. In 1981, Wells was both the IAAF Golden Sprints and IAAF World Cup gold medallist. He is also a three-time European Cup gold medallist among many other sprint successes.