However, in the Olympic final, swimming alongside individual gold medallists John Devitt, Murray Rose and John Konrads, Dickson finished third behind the United States and Japanese teams. At the in Perth, Dickson finished third in the 110-yard freestyle, beaten by Dick Pound of Canada and Bobby McGregor of Scotland.
Dickson was selected to make his international debut at Rome in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. With John Konrads, Jon Henricks and Murray Rose, Dickson broke the world record on 6 August 1960, at the Tobruk Pool in Townsville, Queensland. However, a last minute public appeal brought Rose back from the United States, where he was studying and competing in the United States collegiate system.
Wood was relegated to silver in the 440-yard freestyle behind Rose and bronze in the 1650-yard freestyle, behind Rose and Windle.
Prior to the Tokyo Olympics, Dickson was sent on an international tour to compete, along with Berry, O"Brien and Bob Windle, in the hope that their honed racecraft would help them in Tokyo. He complemented this with another bronze in the 4×100-metre medley relay, alongside Berry, O"Brien and Peter Reynolds.
He narrowly missed a medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, finishing fourth with Windle, Doak and Allan Wood. In 1989, Dickson was elected as the Australian Capital Territory"s first representative on the board of the Australian Olympic Federation.
However Dickson won gold in the 4×110-yard freestyle relay (with Rose, Peter Doak and Peter Phelps) and the 4×110-yard medley relay with Julian Carroll, Ian O"Brien and Kevin Berry, all of whom had won their respective individual events. As he was the Australian 880-yard freestyle champion. Wood won a gold medal in the 4×220-yard freestyle relay, alongside Windle, Rose and Anthony Strahan, setting a world record in the process. The other three won gold in their respective events, but Dickson was eliminated in the semifinal of the 100m freestyle. Along with John Ryan, Doak and Windle, Dickson won bronze in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay. Dickson was accorded the honour of carrying the Australian flag at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He again took the bronze medal in the 110-yard freestyle, won by fellow Australian Michael Wenden, and won gold in the both the 4×110-yard and 4×220 yd freestyle relays.
