Olympic heroes, No 13: Allan Wells

Published on 03/07/2012 00:00

RARELY can a decision have proved more inspiring than the one that saw the Edinburgh man turn his back on triple and long jumping to become a sprinter.

It led to Wells becoming the Olympic 100m champion in Moscow in 1980, when he overcame the challenge of being forced to use starting blocks for the first time in his career.

The absence of an American challenge in Russia, after they decided to boycott the Games, created a feeling that the win by Wells had been devalued, but on plenty of other occasions in his career the Scot beat the best of the Americans.

His medal haul also included an Olympic silver in the 200m, four Commonwealth Games gold medals, three European Cup golds and one in the World Cup.

Married to Margot, a Scottish 100m champion herself, Wells had a spell as coach of the British bobsleigh team after hanging up his spikes.