In his very first international competition, the 1982
European Curling Championships, Smith won a gold medal playing second for
Mike Hay. Hay and Smith were still juniors at the time and they won three straight bronze medals at the
World Junior Curling Championships in , and . In the meantime, they won a bronze medal at the . By 1986, Smith was skipping his own team. He won a silver medal at his second that year. His Scottish team lost to Canada, skipped by
Ed Lukowich in the final 4-3. Two years later, he skipped the British team to an eighth-place finish at the
1988 Winter Olympics (curling was just a demonstration sport). That same year he won a bronze at the World Championships. Still in the same year, he won a second gold medal at the European Curling Championships. In 1990 he won another silver medal at the World Championships, losing to Canada's
Ed Werenich in the final 3-1. The following year he won the gold medal, defeating Canada's
Kevin Martin in the final 7-2. Later that year he won a silver at the
1991 European Curling Championships followed by a bronze in 1992. In 1993 he won his third silver medal at the World Championships, losing again to Canada 8-4, this time skipped by
Russ Howard. In 1996, Smith joined forces with
Warwick Smith, playing as his third. That year he won another silver medal losing once again to Canada – 6-2.
Jeff Stoughton was the winning skip. In 1998, David Smith played his last Worlds as a skip, finishing in fourth place. Later that year he played third for
Gordon Muirhead winning a silver medal at the European Championships. Smith would not play at another international tournament until the
2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, playing second for
Warwick. It would be David Smith's worst performance at an international tournament, when they finished in 9th place. ==Personal life==