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An innocent remark from a five-year-old boy has inspired Olympic legend Dawn Fraser’s return to swimming.
Earlier in the year Fraser took her grandson, Jackson, to the Australian Olympic swimming trials in Sydney.
“He was saying, `Grandma are you going to be competing in these trials?’,” Fraser told AAP.
“And I’m saying `No darling, I will not’.”
It was this question that launched the three-time Olympic 100m freestyle champion back into the pool after two decades.
“He wanted to see me swim,” Fraser said.
She is now training six days a week in preparation for the biennial Alice Springs Masters Games in October.
The 70-year-old was also given further reason to get back in the pool last week when Australia was declared the fattest nation in the world.
“I’ve got to try set an example for the … older generation to get off their butts to do a bit of training and get rid of the obesity that we’ve got in this country,” she said.
Fraser will be competing against about 30 other swimmers, aged 70 to 74, in the 50m freestyle at the Masters.
She says that her pedigree in the pool will add to the pressure on the blocks but she hopes that her mind and body will be up to their old tricks in no time.
“My muscles and my memory will come back to me and say `yes this is what your body needs and this is what you’ve got to do to get yourself fit’.
“I don’t think you ever lose a competitive spirit at all.”
And if Fraser’s going to do it, she’s going to do it properly, cheekily suggesting she’s prepared to don the controversial space-age Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.
“If I can get a swimsuit manufacturer to make me a swimsuit to fit an 85kg person into it, I’ll wear one,” she said.
“If they (Masters competitors) want to spend 20 minutes or half-an-hour putting one on that might only last them one or two swims – so be it. They’re not illegal.”
Fraser will be making her second appearance at the Masters, her first was in 1986 when she set the 50m freestyle record in the 45 to 49-year-old age group.
That record was broken in 2006 and Fraser is keen to set another.
“You make records to be broken but then it started getting to me,” she said.
“I’m in a different age group this year and maybe I can set a record for people to take the challenge and try and break it again.”