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Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has set a target of offering free swimming for all by 2012 as part of the Government's plans for the legacy of the London Olympics.

Under the legacy action plan published on Friday, public pools will be encouraged to offer free swimming to the over-60s.

A new £130million fund will be used to enable the free swimming as part of a drive to get two million people more active by the London 2012 Olympics.

Jowell wants the swimming scheme to be extended to the general public by the time of the Games in 2012.

She said: "My ambition has always been that the Games will offer not just a great summer of sport, but the prize of changing people's lives for the better for generations to come.

"Today we are demonstrating how we will turn the rhetoric of the Olympic Legacy into fact.

"There is something for everyone in our plans - every part of the country, every section of the population. Ten million people stand to benefit from our exciting free swimming plan alone. I hope this is just the beginning and that by 2012 we can offer free swimming to all."

The £130million fund will also be used to encourage local authorities to offer free swimming to under-16s and to rejuvenate and maintain pools.

As well as free swimming, the legacy action plan includes schemes to encourage walking and an 'Inspire' mark - using the London 2012 logo to recognise outstanding non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham said: "Offering free swimming is just the kind of imaginative action required to make us a more active nation by 2012. We have chosen swimming, because its appeal is universal. It is the perfect antidote to the couch-potato culture."