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.[2] He was initially a triple jumper and long jumper,[2] and was the Scottish indoor long jump champion in 1974.
Commonwealth and European sprint titles
He began concentrating on sprint events in 1976. In 1977 he won the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) Indoor 60 metres title, and won his first of seven outdoor Scottish sprint titles.
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.
1980 – Olympic success and the showdown in Koblenz
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. He never used starting blocks,[4] until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics.[2] Prior to the Olympics he was put under pressure by Margaret Thatcher in the boycott of the games led by the Americans.[clarification needed][5] He responded by declining all media requests.[6][2] His Olympic participation was threatened by chronic back pain that struck him shortly before the games began. Each day he underwent four exhausting treatment sessions that left him too tired to train. Instead when not undergoing treatment he spent his time relaxing.[6]
In Moscow, Wells qualified for the final, with a new British record 10.11 s, where he faced pre-race favourite Silvio Leonard of Cuba. Wells finished with an extreme lean which allowed his head and shoulder to cross the finish line 3 inches (76mm) before Leonard's chest in a photo finish; both men were given a final time of 10.25 s.[2][7] Wells became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time at the age of 28 years 83 days.[8]
The 200 m final was another close affair. Wells won the silver medal behind Pietro Mennea, who beat him by 0.02 s;[2] again he set a British record of 20.21 s. He went on to break a third British record, 38.62 s, with the sprint relay team that finished fourth in the final.
In a later interview Wells said the two issues he faced prior to the games were inadvertently key factors in his success. He said in an interview to The Scotsman, "When we got to Moscow, [my wife and coach] Margot and I decided that I'd do six starts and see how it went. The fourth and fifth were full-out as if I was competing and I asked Margot what she thought: she said they were the best she'd ever seen me do. The rest had done me a lot of good, I was really fresh and committed, and those starts gave me the psychological edge over everyone else, which was key because the Olympics is all about your mental aptitude. You're at your fastest when you're relaxed and flowing (Wells' 10.11secs to qualify for the 100m final remains the Scottish record) rather than having to be aggressive."[citation needed]
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, the ASV Weltklasse track meeting in Cologne in West Germany. Less than two weeks after the Moscow gold, he won the final in Cologne in a time of 10.19s, beating Americans Stanley Floyd (10.21), Mel Lattany (10.25), Carl Lewis (10.30) and Harvey Glance (10.31).[2][6] Lattany went straight over to Wells after crossing the line to say, "For what it's worth, Allan, You're the Olympic champion and you would have been Olympic champion no matter who you ran against in Moscow."[2]
At the end of 1980, Wells was awarded Scottish Sports Personality of the Year.[citation needed]
1981 World Cup win
In 1981, after a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Wells won the European Cup 100 metres, beating East German Frank Emmelmann.[9] Wells also finished 2nd in the 200 m.[9][10]
He then won the "IAAF Golden sprints" in Berlin, which was the most prominent sprint meeting in the world that year. Although finishing second to the FrenchmanHermann Panzo by 0.01 secs in the 100, Wells 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.
Wells won the 100 metres at the IAAF World cup in Rome, beating Carl Lewis; Wells then finished 2nd in the world cup 200 in 20.53. Afterwards, he beat Mel Lattany and Stanley Floyd again, when he won a 200 in 20.26 in the Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels, Belgium.[citation needed]
In 1983, he won his third European Cup title by winning the 200 metres in 20.72, beating his old adversary Pietro Mennea in London, and again took 2nd in the 100 m.[12]
He then finished 4th in both the 100/200 sprint finals at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki.
At age 32,[13] he reached the 100 m semi-finals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics,[14] and was a member of the relay team that finished 7th in the final.
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.[15] However, on 5 August at Gateshead, he beat both Ben Johnson and Atlee Mahorn, the respective Commonwealth 100 m and 200 m champions.[16]
Wells gained additional attention at Gateshead for being the first to be seen sporting the now common Lycra running shorts.[17] The sight of these led to him being dubbed Wilson of the Wizard (a comic book character).[18]
Wells was consequently selected for Stuttgart in the European championships, coming fifth in both the 100 m and 200 m finals.[19] He also had a victory against Linford Christie at Crystal Palace at the end of 1986 in 100m at 10.31. One of his last victories was winning the Inverness Highland Games 100/200 double in 1987. In 1987 his best time was 10.28 and he qualified for the Rome World Championships but he was injured.
Although his later career was plagued by repeated back injuries, he still won a career total of 18 medals at major championships before retiring in his mid-30s. He and Don Quarrie and Pietro Mennea set a trend for sprinters in their mid thirties to compete longer in the late Eighties.[20]
After competitive retirement
Since 1982 Wells has lived in Surrey, with his wife Margot.[18] After retirement, he was a coach for the British bobsleigh team. Margot was also a Scottish 100/100 hurdles champion. They are now based in Guildford, Surrey where she is a fitness consultant, and Allan is a retired systems engineer. Allan coached the Bank of Scotland specialist sprint squad alongside another former Scottish sprinter, Ian Mackie.
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.
He also ran a wind-assisted (+5.9m/s) 10.02 in Brisbane, 1982 (still the track record as of August2024 which he shares with Rohan Browning of Sydney, Australia from April2023), and (+3.7m/s) 20.11 in Edinburgh, 1980.
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. Wells denied the allegations.[21]
As of August 2024, Wells holds two track records for 200metres, both of which had wind-assistance. They are Turin (20.29, 1979, +2.2m/s) and Venice (20.26, 1981, +8.5m/s).
In July 2014, Wells received, along with his wife Margot, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University.[24]
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