Douglas's Story
1931-2014
Douglas Laing had an international career that spanned seven years from 1950-1956, where he accumulated 50 caps for the national side. Laing competed at the 1952 Helsinki games and was one of the lucky Australians to compete at a home Olympics in Melbourne in 1956.
When the 1952 Olympics were on the horizon, Laing and his teammates had to pay their own way to the Olympics, with the Australian Olympic Council only covering costs for the half of the 85-strong Australian team.
The team eventually raised enough to travel to Helsinki by boat aboard the P&O Liner S.S. Strathmore, with Laing's Bondi boys providing belts normally reserved for surf rescues as a tool for training. The belts would be strapped to the ships pool railings, while the team would line up four abreast for swimming sessions.
At the 1952 games, Laing was considered one of the three best goalkeepers at the tournament, however the team lost both of their games to finish 19th and came home determined to accelerate the development of water polo in Australia.
Four years later, the 1956 Games yielded just one win, over Singapore, with the Australians again finding that the game had further evolved in their four year absence from international competition.
Laing retired following the 1956 Olympic campaign, although continued to compete for Bondi in the NSWAWPA, where he again won the first grade competition in 1956/57 to make it a decade since any club other than Bondi had won.
Following his retirement Laing went on to found Laing Real Estate, with his daughter Vicki following in his footsteps.
Information courtesy of Water Polo Australia
