Andrew James Duncan Laing, CNZM, OBE, (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, 4 sons and 2 daughters (1 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 awarded the OBE in 1993, and made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June 2006.[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]