Editing Allan Wells (section)

===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,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D8tAAAAAIBAJ&pg=1517%2C883092 |title=Britain's Europa Cup hope runs into trouble |first=Neil |last=Wilson |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=4 August 1979 |page=13 |access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> until a rule change forced him to do so for the Moscow Olympics.<ref name="guardianolysrs"/> Prior to the Olympics, he was put under pressure by [[Margaret Thatcher]] in the boycott of the games led by the Americans.{{clarify|date=July 2023}}<ref name="Observer 2006">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/mar/05/features.sport9 |title=Thatcher tried to blackmail us not to go to Moscow. That made me very angry |first=Jamie |last=Jackson |work=The Observer |date=5 March 2006 |access-date=14 October 2022}}</ref> He responded by declining all media requests.<ref name=deepwells>{{cite news|url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/theatre-review-weir-sisters-dance-review-tango-moderno-1436232|title=Theatre review: The Weir Sisters &#124; Dance review: Tango Moderno|date=9 August 2008|work=The Scotsman}}</ref><ref name="guardianolysrs"/> 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.<ref name=deepwells/>

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 {{convert|3|in|mm}} before Leonard's chest in a photo finish; both men were given a final time of 10.25 s.<ref name="guardianolysrs"/><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://olympics.com/en/original-series/episode/moscow-1980-how-scotland-s-alan-wells-became-an-accidental-hero |title=
Moscow 1980 - How Scotland's Alan Wells became an accidental hero |website=olympics.com |publisher=[[International Olympic Committee]] |date=20 July 2018 |access-date=28 October 2022}}</ref> Wells became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion at that time at the age of 28 years 83 days.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=6921|title=Athletics photographic encyclopedia, athlete, olympic games, world championship, european championship & hero images by sporting-heroes.net|publisher=Sporting Heroes}}</ref>

The 200 m final was another close affair. Wells won the silver medal behind [[Pietro Mennea]], who beat him by 0.02 s;<ref name="guardianolysrs"/> 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|date=February 2020}}

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).<ref name="guardianolysrs"/><ref name=deepwells/> 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."<ref name="guardianolysrs"/>

At the end of 1980, Wells was awarded Scottish Sports Personality of the Year.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}