Many went, and they produced some of the best moments in Britain’s track history, including the legendary triumphs of Steve Ovett in the 800m and Sebastian Coe in the 1500m, as well as Daley Thompson winning the first of his two Olympic golds in the decathlon.
The 100m had not been won by a Briton since Harold Abrahams in Paris in 1924. At that same Games, Eric Liddell won the 400m, the last occasion a Scotsman had won an Olympic track gold medal.
It was to all change in Moscow thanks to Allan Wells. [The numbers refer to a photograph that is not carried on the website.]
Advertisement
1 Hermann Panzo (France)
The Frenchman finished last, but did find himself on the podium in Moscow, winning bronze as the anchor leg member in the 4x100m relay team behind Russia and Poland. He originated from Martinique, but tragedy struck in 1999 when, at the age of 41, he died of meningitis
2 Osvaldo Lara (Cuba)
The absence of so many countries opened the door to lesser known athletes. The role played by Lara in helping to provide Wells with his “target at 30m” was vital. Lara, who was fifth in this race, remained in the sport until 1987. He is now 49, and for the past two years has been working in Venezuela as part of a mutual sport co-operation agreement with Cuba. Thanks to this agreement, thousands of Cuban coaches and physical education teachers are working in Venezuela
3 Allan Wells (GB)
Born in Edinburgh in 1952, Wells first made his mark on the athletics scene as a triple jumper when he won the Scottish junior title in 1970. But it wasn’t until 1976 that he turned to sprinting. Wells, the Commonwealth 200m champion, won his second round in a British record time of 10.11sec, and also won his semi-final. He now works as a fitness consultant at the University of Surrey in Guildford. “It does not feel like 24 years ago,” he said. “I remember everything about the build-up to the final. The warm-up, lying down, being massaged, walking over the long bridge to the stadium and waiting in the holding pen, where one of the Russians in the race (who was late) jumped over the barrier and had only his underpants on. It looked like he had been injecting something into his backside, because there was blood dribbling down his leg. Silvio Leonard was the favourite and I had seen him training with his teammate (Osvaldo Lara) and he (Leonard) had been a metre ahead of him after 30m. Lara was next to me in the final, so I used that as a gauge of where I needed to be.” With his wife and coach, Margot, screaming from the sidelines, Wells produced the race of his life. “I could see there was a guy on my inside and it could only have been Leonard. I kept pushing all the way. I did everything to put my chest across the line, breaking the tape at the same time as Leonard. I felt I had won as the big screen showed the replay and I did a pirouette and went off on a lap of honour, still not sure I had won.” The only downside for Wells came at the medal ceremony. The International Olympic Committee had decided the Olympic hymn would be played at the Games instead of national anthems. “That was the one thing that was missing,” said Wells. “Standing on the top of the rostrum, you expect to hear your national anthem.” Wells went on to take silver in the 200m and two weeks after the Games, as if to prove a point, beat the top Americans, who had been missing from Moscow, over 100m
Advertisement
4 Peter Petrov (Bulgaria)
He was third in the final and then had to settle for sixth in the 4x100m relay, being beaten on the final leg by, among others, Panzo, whom he had defeated in the individual event. He is believed to have drifted out of athletics in the 1980s and is now in charge of his family’s shoe business in Bulgaria. He is 49
5 Marian Woronin (Poland)
Came in seventh in Moscow, but the best individual performance of his career was still to come. Two years later, at the European championships in Athens, he finished third in the 100m. He did win a medal in Moscow, as part of Poland’s 4x100m relay team that took silver. Two years before the Olympics he had won relay gold at the European championships in Prague. Now 48, he organises a competition called Athletics Thursday in Poland, a project for pupils between the ages of 12 and 14. He is also pursuing a political career, and hopes to be elected to the European parliament
Advertisement
6 Vladimir Muravyov (USSR)
Finished sixth in the final in the high point of his career. Muravyov, who ran in a Soviet vest before the break-up of the USSR, now lives in Karaganda in his native Kazakhstan. He is 44 and remains very much involved in athletics. He coaches his son, who is also a sprinter
Advertisement
7 Aleksandr Aksinin (USSR)
The Russian was fourth in the final, and athletics still remains part of his life. He is now 49 and coaches athletes in Malaysia
Silvio Leonard (Cuba)
Regarded as one of his country’s greatest athletes as a result of this silver medal. He retired from the sport in 1985 and now lives in Havana, where he coaches Cuba’s national junior team. He is 48