WELLINGTON (AP) -- Danyon Loader, who won two gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics, has retired from swimming after failing in his first attempt to qualify for New Zealand's team for Sydney.

  Duncan Laing, who coached Loader to gold in the 200- and 400-metre freestyle in 1996, said it was clear his swimmer's attitude had changed.

  "I wasn't surprised," Laing said today. "We discussed it during the week in Christchurch and he didn't say he was going to retire but I could almost read it in his mind. It was sad moment when it happened."

  Loader, 25, attempted to qualify for Sydney at last week's Oceania championships in Christchurch.

  "I was the youngest member of the New Zealand team at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games and am now the oldest male, so I feel the time is right to move on," Loader said in a statement.

  "I've been swimming competitively since 1987, those 13 years comprising half of my life, and the desire and incentive to race has diminished."