David Wilkie (swimmer)

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox swimmer David Andrew Wilkie Template:Postnominals (8 March 1954 – 22 May 2024) was a Scottish swimmer who was the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in 1976, the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960.<ref>McLean, Euan (5 August 2001) "Swimming Great sporting moments; Scots swimmer David Wilkie takes gold in Montreal Olympics 200m breaststroke", The Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland)</ref> He is the only person to have held British, Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic swimming titles at the same time.<ref name = STV>(31 July 2012) Coaches; David Wilkie MBE Template:Webarchive "Coached off the Coach", STV (Scottish Television), Retrieved 27 April 2013.</ref> Wilkie, a member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, has been described as Scotland's greatest and Britain's finest swimmer.<ref>(June 2008) "Scottish Olympic Legends Template:Webarchive", The Winning Zone, Retrieved 21 May 2013.</ref><ref name = BBCGolden>(29 June 2012) "Golden Scots: David Wilkie in Montreal, 1976", BBC Sport Scotland, Retrieved 21 May 2013.</ref><ref name = TheTimes2004>Campbell, Alastair (10 July 2004) "Wilkie's strokes of genius secure him place in history – and my talent pool", The Times, Retrieved 14 September 2013.</ref> Fellow Olympic breaststroke gold medallist Duncan Goodhew considered him an "extraordinary talent" and "one of Britain's greatest ever athletes".<ref>Tyrone Smith, 'Wilkie 'probably one of Britain’s greatest' - Goodhew'. BBC Sport, 23 May 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024</ref>

Early days

David Wilkie's parents came from Aberdeen, Scotland, but were stationed in Colombo, Ceylon, when Wilkie was born on 8 March 1954.<ref name = PastMaster/><ref name = Aberdeen>David Wilkie Swimmer Aberdeen About Aberdeen, Retrieved 5 October 2013</ref> His family regularly patronised the open air Colombo Swimming Club, where Wilkie learned to swim.<ref name = PastMaster/><ref>(2013) Colombo Swimming Club Official Web Page Retrieved 5 October 2012</ref><ref>'This Sporting Life. David Wilkie'. BBC Scotland, 27 November 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2024</ref>

When he was 11 years old his parents sent him to Scotland as a boarding school pupil at Daniel Stewart's College in Edinburgh,<ref Name = Legends>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and, while a pupil there, he joined the Warrender Baths Club, one of Scotland's most successful swimming clubs.<ref name = PastMaster/><ref name =WBC>Template:Cite book</ref> It was there that he began to train intensively and develop his specialist stroke, the breaststroke under one of Britain's leading coaches Frank Thomas,<ref name="Riach">Riach, Fraser (26 September 1970) "Poised to join world-class swimmers: Sporting Scots 4 – David Wilkie", The Glasgow Herald, Page 8, A copy is also available on the internet at [1], Retrieved 1 April 2013</ref><ref name = FrankThomas>Template:Cite news</ref> whom Wilkie credited with giving him the motivation to become a world class swimmer.<ref name = PastMaster>(June 2007) Past Masters: David Wilkie, Scotland's Olympic Gold Medal winning swimmer In the Winning Zone, Retrieved 20 May 2012</ref> In 1969, Wilkie was chosen to join the elite Scottish Training Squad organised by the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association.<ref name = Riach/>

National and international success

In 1969, Wilkie swam representing Britain for the first time in an international swimming contest, where he came up against the Russian 200-metre breaststroke world record-holder Nikolai Pankin.<ref name = PastMaster/>

Wilkie broke the British record for the 200-metre breaststroke in an international match against Denmark in July 1970.<ref name = Riach/> He then won a bronze medal in front of his home crowd in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in the 200-metre breaststroke breaking his own British record again.<ref name = Riach/><ref name = 100Years>Template:Cite book</ref> He wore a swim cap for that event during the Commonwealth Games, making him the first elite swimmer to wear one in a major competition.<ref name = BBCGolden/><ref name = FrankThomas/>

In 1970, the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association awarded Wilkie the Nancy Riach Memorial Medal Award (awarded to the person who has the done the most to enhance or uphold the prestige of Scottish Swimming during the year) and the W.G. Todd Cup and Prize (Junior Swimmer of the Year). This was the first time in the Association's history that both awards had gone to the same person in the same year. Wilkie continued to hold the Nancy Riach award every year from 1972 to 1976.<ref name = 100Years/>

At the Scottish national long course championships in 1972, Wilkie won five events.<ref Name =100Years/> However Wilkie's world breakthrough came when he won silver in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, in a European record time of 2:23:67<ref name =100Years/> in spite of being ranked only 25th in the world.<ref name = PastMaster/> He also broke the Scottish record times for the 100-metre breaststroke and the 200-metre individual medley.<ref name =WBC/>

Starting in 1973, Wilkie was studying and swimming in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He won the World Championship for 200-metre breaststroke in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and broke the world record.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, he won a gold in the 200-metre breaststroke, a second gold in the 200-metre individual medley, and a silver in the 100-metre breaststroke.<ref name =100Years/> Also in 1974 at the European Championships in Vienna, Austria, he won a gold in the 200-metre individual medley in a world record time. He also won gold for the 200-metre breaststroke and silver as a member of the British 4x100-metre medley relay team.<ref name = 100Years/><ref>European Swimming Championships (Men) GBRAthletics, Retrieved 2 April 2013</ref> From 1972 to 1976 he was unbeaten in 200-metre breaststroke races.<ref name = Inspired>Gallagher, Brendon (24 July 2006) "Inspired Wilkie left the world in his wake", The Telegraph, Retrieved 2 June 2013.</ref>

Olympic gold

However, it was after several years of further intensive training, while studying at the University of Miami on an athletic scholarship and competing for the university's Miami Hurricanes swimming and diving team,<ref name = STV/> that Wilkie's finest hour came. He won gold in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, in a world-record time of 2:15:11 and preventing an American sweep of the men's swimming gold medals. He also added a 100-metre silver medal to his collection in a time of 1:03:43.<ref name =100Years/> His world record was to remain unbroken for six years.<ref name = TheTimes2004/>

Wilkie won three Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National US Championships<ref name = IHallofFame/> and three NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships (NCAA) US college championships while at Miami, was four times All-American and was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.<ref>(1987) University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame Inductee; David Wilkie, Biography Template:Webarchive Retrieved 22 April 2013</ref> The head swimming coach there was Bill Diaz<ref name = SI>Sharnick, Morton (24 March 1975) "Outsider In The Mainstream", Sports Illustrated, SIVault, Retrieved 31 May 2013.</ref> and his individual coach was Charlie Hodgson.<ref name = PastMaster/>

He was European Swimmer of the Year three times,<ref name=IHallofFame>(1982) {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> British Sports personality of the year in 1975,<ref>Anderson, Ron (7 November 1975) "Wilkie Sportsman of the year", The Glasgow Herald, Retrieved 2 June 2013.</ref> in 1977 he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in 1982 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame<ref name = IHallofFame/> and in 2002 was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.<ref>David Wilkie, MBE Template:Webarchive, Sport Scotland, Retrieved 2 April 2013</ref>

After competitive swimming

Following his retirement, Wilkie remained active in the world of swimming, involved in swimming aids and technology. He was said to be the first swimmer to wear a head-cap and goggles together in competition to improve the streamline effect within the water<ref name = BBCGolden/><ref name = FrankThomas/> although he also said he wore the goggles because of an allergy to chlorine in the water and the cap to keep his long hair in.<ref name = Inspired/>

Wilkie co-founded a healthcare company called Health Perception (UK) Ltd. in 1986. It was sold to William Ransom and Son plc in 2004 for £7.8 million.<ref name = Millionaire>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>(15 April 2004) Ransom(Wm)& Son. Acquisition Template:Webarchive FE Investigate, RNS, Retrieved 2 April 2013</ref> In 1985 he met his Swedish partner Helen Isacson<ref name = TheTimes2004/><ref name = Millionaire/><ref>Heathfield Interior Design Company web page of Helen Isacson, Retrieved 3 June 2013.</ref> with whom he had two children, Natasha and Adam who were 23 and 20 in 2013.<ref name = Whathappened>Robinson, Peter (20 July 2013). "Whatever happened to... Olympic swimmer David Wilkie". The Daily Express. Retrieved 14 September 2013.</ref> In 2009 he helped found Pet's Kitchen,<ref>Pet's Kitchen official company web page Retrieved 14 September 2013</ref> a pet food company supplying British supermarkets.<ref name = DavidAndy>(3 February 2013) "Olympic legend David Wilkie: Andy Murray became a Brit when he won gold.. he'll be English if he wins Wimbledon", The Daily Record, Retrieved 14 September 2013.</ref>

In an interview with bunkered.co.uk in April 2016, Wilkie criticised the re-introduction of golf to the Olympic Games. He called Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player's claims that the Olympics would grow the game globally as "absolute bullshit", while he also said that players who did not stay in Rio de Janeiro for the duration of the Games could not be classed as true Olympians.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

"The David Wilkie problem"

In 2017, BBC News reported that Wilkie (then aged 62) "was accused of swimming too fast" in his local Virgin Active swimming pool. Wilkie quit his Virgin Active membership and joined another gym.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Outdoor Swimmer magazine subsequently coined the phrase "the David Wilkie problem", meaning "the issue of how swimming pools manage their facilities to provide swimmers with a wide range of abilities, aspirations and expectations the best possible experience. The fact that 'lane rage' exists suggests that currently, they don't do a very good job of it."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Death

Wilkie died of cancer on 22 May 2024, at the age of 70.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Books

• David Wilkie by David Wilkie, Pat Besford and Tommy Long, Kemps, 1976; Template:ISBN
• Winning with Wilkie: A Guide to Better Swimming by David Wilkie and Athole Still, Stanley Paul, 1977. Template:ISBN.
• Splash!: Swimming with Wilkie by David Wilkie and Kelvin Juba, Hutchinson, 1982. Template:ISBN.
• The Handbook of Swimming by David Wilkie and Kelvin Juba, Pelham, 1986. Template:ISBN.

See also

• List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• World record progression 200 metres breaststroke
• World record progression 200 metres individual medley

External links

• Template:World Aquatics
• Template:International Swimming Hall of Fame
• Template:Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
• Template:Team Scotland
• Template:Team GB
• Template:Olympics.com
• Template:Olympedia
• Template:Webarchive