THOSE with memories of Olympic gold medallist swimmer David Wilkie’s visits to Inverclyde will have been saddened by his recent death at the age of 70.

Today, I look back to when David, who secured gold at the 1976 Montreal Games, competed in a Masters tournament at the old McNeil Baths in December, 1980, and to April, 1998, when he was the celebrity guest at the official opening of the Waterfront Leisure Complex. He is pictured at the latter with local Paralympics gold medallist swimmer Margaret McEleny.

The Masters event at the McNeil Baths attracted many of the world’s top swimmers and hundreds of spectators.

Described as the ‘Swim of the Century’, the premier race was the breaststroke where all eyes were on David, who had retired from competitive swimming, and Duncan Goodhew, who won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. It was watched by millions of television viewers.

Duncan romped home nearly two metres ahead of David. He said: “This was the first race I was really surprised to win – I did not know how much training David had done.”

At the official opening of the Waterfront Complex in 1998, David said: “I have not seen a better leisure complex than this, not just in Scotland, but in the whole of Britain.

“The location is excellent and the facilities are superb.”

David Wilkie was so keen to attend the Waterfront opening that he delayed his participation in an off-season holiday. The rest of his family flew out to Spain the previous but David postponed joining them so he could come up from England for the big occasion.