In Tribute: World Aquatics celebrates British Olympic swimming champion David Wilkie MBE
The record-breaking Scottish swimmer put together a sensational career in the pool, winning three World Championships titles, a pair of European Championships and Commonwealth Games golds, and the 200m breaststroke title at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
Wilkie’s family say he passed away “peacefully” following a “brave battle with cancer.”
Born in Sri Lanka to Scottish parents, Wilkie won his first major medal with a bronze at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Racing at his first Olympics in Munich in 1972, Wilkie earned silver in the 200m breaststroke, then collected World Championship gold at the first edition of the World Aquatics Championships the following year in Belgrade. Wilkie’s win at the Worlds started a staggering four-year unbeaten streak in the 200m breaststroke.
In 1975, Wilkie completed a 100m and 200m breaststroke golden double at the World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia en route to being voted British Sports Personality of the Year.
Wilkie’s crowning moment in the pool came in Montreal, with his Olympic triumph in the 200m breaststroke. His 2:15.11 sliced more than three seconds off the then-World Record. He also earned silver in the 100m breaststroke in Canada. Wilkie’s 200m breastroke win in Montreal was all the more outstanding as Team USA won gold all the other 13 men’s swimming events at the Games.
Wilkie also recorded a World Record in the 200m Individual Medley at the 1974 European Championships in Vienna, Austria, a meet where he also won the 200m breaststroke and silver in the 4x100m Medley Relay.
