Recuperating from a pacemaker operation, and no stranger to big setbacks, Ms Hardy plans to return to some serious training soon.

"My goal at the moment is to get back in the water and train for the next competition - the Mildura Masters Games in August," she said. "But my real goal is for Sydney in October for the World Masters Games, where I'll be competing in the 70-74-age group."

At the age of 70, Ms Hardy continues to break records. She won the breaststroke and open water championships at the recent Aussie Masters Games in Brisbane.

Ms Hardy has enjoyed a long swimming career. She trained under Dawn Fraser's coach, Henry Gallagher, to compete in the Rome Olympic Games in 1960, but her dreams were shattered when she entered the water incorrectly and broke her toe and hand.

"Unfortunately, I went off the tower and hit the water the wrong way. It happened just four weeks before I was due to compete. I couldn't achieve that major goal, and I dropped my bundle."

Ms Hardy abandoned competitive swimming, but ran her own swimming school with her mother, Ada Hardy, in their backyard at Bentleigh.

"We turned out many champions. It was a good-sized teaching pool, enclosed and heated, so we could use it all year round."

Ms Hardy married and has three children, including Elizabeth Robinson, who became a Victorian champion by the age of 10.

When she was 42, Ms Hardy started to train to compete in the Aussie Masters competition. Her career took off and she broke state and national records, including in breaststroke.

When Ms Hardy turned 50, she had a pacemaker inserted. Training became tougher - but so did she. "It was tough going for a while as I really struggled to keep fit."

In 1992, she volunteered in a program to rebuild war-ravaged areas in Iraq, and in 1995 and 1996 took part in a program to help the Kurdish people in Iraq. She has also volunteered in Indonesia and been to Uganda to support orphans.