David Wilkie
Former Olympic swimmer David Wilkie, who was a swimming coach in Sri Lanka for a brief period, passed away recently at the age of 70 after a battle with cancer.
Wilkie won gold at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976 in the 200m breaststroke, breaking the world record by more than three seconds in one of the greatest ever British Olympic displays.
Wilkie also claimed two Olympic Silver medals and three world titles, completing the 100m and 200m breaststroke double in 1975.
Wilkie was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to Scottish parents and won his first major medal with a bronze at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, when he also became the first elite swimmer to ever wear a cap in a top competition.
He said he wore the cap to control his long hair, but it was also to partly guard against allergic reaction to chlorine. At the age of 18, Wilkie claimed a silver in the 200m breaststroke at the Olympics in Munich in 1972 and then won his first world gold the following year. He added three more Commonwealth medals for Scotland, including two gold medals in 1974.
Wilkie was unbeaten in the 200m for four years and his crowning moment in Montreal made him the first British man to win Olympic gold in the pool in 68 years. After swimming he became a successful businessman, co-founding a healthcare company, Health Perception, which he sold for 7.8 million Pounds in 2004. He also helped set up a successful pet food company named Pet’s Kitchen.
He is survived by his wife Helen and children Natasha and Adam. (TBR)
