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.
[5] He had since retired from professional coaching, and received treatment in 2006 for melanoma on his leg and a brain tumour.
[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,[8] and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sport, in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.