Allan Wipper Wells is a Scottish former 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.
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad and commonly known as Moscow 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The games were the first to be staged in an Eastern Bloc country, as well as the first Olympic Games and only Summer Olympics to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in a self-proclaimed communist country until the 2008 Summer Olympics held in China. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin before he was succeeded by Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Spaniard, shortly afterwards.
Eamonn Christopher Coghlan is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres. He is a three-time Olympian and former world champion in the 5,000 m. He served as Senator from 2011 to 2016.
Bronisław Malinowski was a Polish track and field athlete, who is best known for winning a gold medal in the 3000 m steeplechase race during the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union and the silver four years earlier in Montreal. One year after his last Olympic appearance, Malinowski was killed in a car accident in Grudziądz, at the age of 30.
Sharron Elizabeth Davies, is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships and competed for England in the Commonwealth Games. Davies has attended 12 consecutive Olympic Games, competing in three games and then working in the media for the BBC Sport.
Emiel Adrien "Miel" Puttemans is a retired middle- and long-distance runner, who set world records for 3000 metres in 1972, for 2 miles in 1971, and for 5000 metres in 1972. He won two European Indoor Championships titles in the 3000 m, in 1973 and 1974, and finished second in 1978.
Lasse Artturi Virén is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola in the 1920s. He was elected Finnish Sportsman of the Year in 1972 and 1976 and later became a politician and a member of Finland's parliament in 1999–2007 and 2010–2011.
Sir Brendan Foster is a British former long-distance runner, athletics commentator and road race organiser, who founded the Great North Run, one of the sport's most high profile half-marathon races. As an athlete, he won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He later provided commentary and analysis on athletics, particularly long-distance events, for BBC Sport after his running career ended.
John Treacy is an Irish Olympian and former athlete, now a sporting administrator.
Kathryn Jane Cook is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze medallist, including at 400 metres in Los Angeles 1984. Her other individual achievements include winning the 200m at the 1981 Universiade, finishing second in the 100m at the 1981 World Cup, and winning a bronze medal in the 200m at the 1983 World Championships. She is also three-times a winner of the British Athletics Writers' Association Female Athlete of the Year Award (1980–82).
Henry Rono is a Kenyan retired track and field athlete who specialised in various long-distance running events. Although he never competed at the Olympics, Rono is remembered as one of the most prolific collegiate competitors in the history of track in the United States, as well as being the former record holder for the 3000 metres steeplechase for over a decade. Rono also set the world record for the 5000 metres twice, in 1978, then broke that record three years later.
Markus Ryffel is a former long-distance runner from Switzerland who won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Hansjörg Kunze is a German track and field athlete. He represented East Germany as a long distance runner.
Venanzio Ortis is an Italian retired long-distance runner who won two medals at the 1978 European Championships.
Martti Olavi Vainio is a Finnish former long-distance runner. In Finland he is recognized as the last of the great runners of the famous "V-line", the previous ones being Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, and Pekka Vasala. Each of them won at least one gold medal either at the Summer Olympics or the European Athletics Championships in the 1970s. Vainio's accomplishments are tarnished though, for testing positive for PEDs on at least two occasions. One of those events was the 1984 Olympic Games where he was disqualified and stripped of his medal and later suspended from sport.
Allan Cleave Evan Lawrence was an Australian long-distance runner. He won a bronze medal for Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Gary Norman Hurring is a former swimmer from New Zealand, who won the gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in the men's 200 metres backstroke. He gained silver in the same event at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships.
Henry Dinwoodey Marsh is a retired runner from the United States, who made four U.S. Olympic teams and represented his native country in the men's 3,000 meter Steeplechase in three Summer Olympics, from 1976 through 1988.
David John Black is a male retired British long-distance runner. Black competed in the marathon at the 1980 Summer Olympics. He represented England and won a silver medal in the 10,000 metres and a bronze medal in the 5,000 metres, at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand. Four years later he represented England in the 10,000 metres, at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Miguel Santiago "Mike" Roche is an American middle-distance runner. He competed in the men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Roche was a 1975 NCAA All-American in the 3000 steeplechase while attending Rutgers University. He was ranked in the top 10 US Steeplechasers from 1975 to 1980. In 1978, Roche was a member of the silver medal-winning US International Cross Country team competing in Glasgow, Scotland. On July 4, 1978, Roche beat 12,000 runners at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA, setting a new course record (28:59)in the process. In March 1981, Roche established a new American Record for 10 miles with a time of 46:57 at Cherry Hill, NJ. The record would stand for 2 years.
