David Wilkie

Peter Robertson pays tribute to one of Britain's most successful athletes

- Peter Robertson

In an interview I did with swimming legend David Wilkie in 2013, I asked him if he wanted to live to a ripe old age. He replied: "I'm not sure about that. You know, three score and 10 would sort of be satisfactory." Sadly, on 22 May 2024, David did indeed die at the age of 70. He also told me he wanted to be remembered "as a great athlete and a good man". That much was already guaranteed long before then.

Millions of us Brits were bursting with pride when we watched an emotional David Wilkie step up to the Olympic podium and receive his gold medal for the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Games. Completing the event in a world record time, he was the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough 16 years earlier.

"When that medal was hung around my neck I thought: "The amount of work that's gone into winning this little thing is atrocious!' he revealed. It started for David in Sri Lanka where he was born (on 8 March 1954) and brought up, learning his chosen sport at the Colombo Swimming Club. Aged, 11 his parents sent him to boarding school in their native Scotland.