David Wilkie, swimming gold medallist for Great Britain in 1976, dies aged 70 | Swimming

The British Olympic swimming champion David Wilkie has died on the age of 70.

Wilkie’s household introduced that the Scottish nice Wilkie, who gained 200m breaststroke gold for Nice Britain in Montreal in 1976, died on Wednesday morning.

A press release learn: “It’s with nice unhappiness that the household of David Wilkie MBE announce that he died peacefully surrounded by his ­household this ­morning, following his courageous ­battle with most cancers.”

In addition to the 1976 gold medal, Wilkie gained two Olympic silver medals and three world titles. Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1954 to Scottish mother and father, Wilkie gained his first main medal with a bronze on the 1970 Commonwealth Video games in Edinburgh, representing Scotland.

His first world championship gold adopted in 1973 in Belgrade, and two years later he gained each 100m and 200m breaststroke titles in Cali. Wilkie was topped ­Olympic ­champion after a unprecedented efficiency in Montreal, the place he broke the world file by greater than three seconds. The file, certainly one of 5 he achieved in his profession, stood 5 years, however Wilkie didn’t try to raised it, selecting as a substitute to retire one month after the Video games on the age of twenty-two.

Wilkie was awarded an MBE in 1977 and subsequently grew to become a suc­cessful businessman. He’s survived by his spouse, Helen, and kids, Natasha and Adam.

Adam Wilkie stated: “My dad was a very great man, father, and husband. He achieved a lot in his life and people who knew him will always remember his love for all times, kindness, and great sense of humour.”

The previous British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies posted on X: “I’m so unhappy to listen to of the lack of Olympic champion famous person breast­stroker, my first crush & positively an inspiration, proud Scotsman David Wilkie who died earlier at this time, sleep tight previous good friend x.”