Andrew James Duncan Laing (20 June 1933 – 13 September 2008), generally known as Duncan Laing, was a New Zealand swimming coach based in Dunedin. He coached Olympian Danyon Loader, winner of two gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and a silver medal at Barcelona in 1992,[1] [2] and Philip Rush, current world record holder for the fastest two and three way swim of the English Channel.[3] He began teaching at Moana Pool in 1966, and over forty years training in Dunedin included 11 Olympic athletes.[2] [4] In 2003, Michael Phelps visited New Zealand to train under Laing.[5] He had since retired from professional coaching, and received treatment in 2006 for melanoma on his leg and a brain tumour.[6]
He married Betty Burgess in 1951, and they had six children, four sons and two daughters (one deceased).[7] Besides coaching he was an Otago rugby selector in the 1980s, and ran the Moana House rehabilitation centre with his wife.[3]
Laing was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours, and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sport, in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.[8] [9]
He was born in New Plymouth on 20 June 1933 and died in Dunedin on 13 September 2008 at the age of 77.[7] [10]
One of the pools within the Moana Pool complex was renamed the Duncan Laing Pool in November 2010 in his honour.[11]