Watch out Libby and Britta - move over Dara! Dawn Fraser is back - and she's wearing an LZR Racer! Crickey! At 70, the triple Olympic 100 free champion of '56 to '64 and the first woman ever to race inside the minute, way back when in 1962, is in the swim once more.

As the legend pointed out to 5-year-old grandson Jackson, Fraser will not be racing at the Olympics. But his question prompted one in the swimmer's heart: why not get back in a suit for the first time in two decades?

Earlier in the year Fraser took Jackson to watch the Australian Olympic swimming trials in Melbourne. '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'.'

She added: 'He wanted to see me swim.' And so he shall: Fraser is training six days a week in preparation for the biennial Alice Springs Masters Games in October.

Fraser sees her quest as more than a way to make Jackson a happy boy. Last week, Australia was declared the fattest nation in the world (hard to believe if you walked slong a beach Down Under).

'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 told AAP. Fraser will be competing against about 30 other swimmers, aged 70 to 74, in the 50m freestyle at the Masters.

'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.'

Fraser wants to do the up-to-date thing. She will wear an LZR. 'If I can get a swimsuit manufacturer to make me a swimsuit to fit an 85kg person into it, I'll wear one. 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.'

Back in 1986, Fraser set an Aussie masters record when she 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,' said Fraser, her fighting spirit rising from the depths. '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.'

Good luck Dawn. I reckon it'll be Shane Gould who'll take your 70s age-group record. Watch this space.