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Wilkie especially enjoyed training outdoors as it broke the monotony of the four-hour-long training swims and he said in 1976: "It's really nice training out in the sunshine."
In the days when Olympics were still strictly for amateurs, being allowed to dedicate himself to his sport brought the best out in Wilkie.
And the States was the home of all the top swimmers. Wilkie was the only non-American to win one of the 13 gold swimming medals available at Montreal, the first British man in 68 years to do so.
In 1973 he went to Belgrade and won the World 200m breaststroke title, breaking the world record, and then regained the title in 1975 while adding the 100m breaststroke to his conquests. At the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974 he picked up two golds and one silver and also added the European title to his collection.
On the world stage his biggest rival was the American John Hencken. It was Hencken who won the 100m at Munich when Wilkie came in third and the two men had an intense rivalry for all of the breaststroke titles of the early '70s.
According to the British Olympic coach Dave Haller, Hencken had the beating of him for speed because of his fast arm movements and was more suited to the sprint of the 100m, but Wilkie's long rhythmic strokes meant he was better over the longer distance.
The swimmers' competitiveness stopped them being friends and the amiable Wilkie had to admit the athletes barely spoke to each other.
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Honours were shared at the Montreal Olympics. Hencken beat Wilkie into second place in the breaststroke with the top three in this race all breaking the world record. Wilkie was pleased with his second place, especially as he hadn't prepared as thoroughly as he might by not shaving off his body hairs, which could cause drag under water.
And in the longer distance, Wilkie dominated his American opponent, beating him by metres and taking three seconds off the world record in the process.
And then he retired at the top. Leaving a legacy of being Scotland's best ever male swimmer and introducing the combination of swimming caps and goggles to swimmers everywhere.
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