Du Toit was already an international swimmer - three years earlier she had competed for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Within three months, even before she was walking, Du Toit was back in the pool training for the following year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where she would make history in terms of bridging the gap between able-bodied and Para swimming.

The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games were the first to fully incorporate sports for elite athletes with a disability, and after the traumatic misfortune of her accident, Du Toit capitalised fully on what was, in the circumstances, propitious timing from a personal viewpoint.

Then 18, she won both the multi-disability events staged at the Manchester Aquatics Centre - the 50 and 100 metres freestyle.

She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800m able-bodied freestyle final - the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.

At the closing of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon Award for Outstanding Athlete of the Games.

Commonwealth Games performances have often been an indicator of Olympic potential - and in the case of Du Toit, who swam without the aid of a prosthetic limb, the same held true in terms of Paralympic potential.

The year before the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games Du Toit, competing against able-bodied swimmers, had won gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games as well as silver in the 800 metres freestyle and bronze in the 400 metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games.

She narrowly missed qualifying to swim in the Athens Olympics. But when it came to the Paralympics, she ruled the pool.

Du Toit left Athens with five golds in the S9 category - at 50, 100 and 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and, in the SM9 category, the 200m individual medley. She also took silver in the S9 100m backstroke.

The South African was nominated later that year for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award.

In 2006 she travelled to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and retained both the titles she had won in Manchester.

She also won six gold medals at the fourth IPC World Swimming Championships, finishing third overall in a race which included 36 males and 20 females.

On May 3, 2008, Du Toit created more sporting history as she qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympics by finishing fourth in the 10km open water race at the Open Water World Championships in Seville.

She finished the Beijing 2008 women’s 10km race in 16th place, 1min 22.2sec behind the winner.

And then it was on to the Beijing Paralympics, where she secured five more gold medals.

Her last hurrah came at the London 2012 Paralympics, where she added another three golds and a silver to her collection before retiring.

Circumstance dictated that Du Toit would be a unique figure in the establishment of Para-sports within the Commonwealth Games - a process that will see the imminent Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games presenting the largest integrated Para sport programme in history.

Para sports were first brought within the Commonwealth Games umbrella in the form of the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games, which were organised directly before the able-bodied Games between 1962 and 1964. These involved Para sports in athletics, swimming, lawn bowls and table tennis.

Events for Athletes with a Disability were first included on the Commonwealth Games programme as an exhibition sport at the Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, featuring all the Paraplegic Games events except table tennis.

No Para sports were involved in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, but four years later Manchester made the historic step to become the first fully inclusive international multi-sport Games.

A total of 20 countries sent both male and female elite Para athletes to complete in 10 events in five different Para sports - athletics, lawn bowls, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting.

While Du Toit made history in terms of bridging the gap between Para sport and able-bodied sport in Manchester, Canada’s wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc established her own place in history as she won the first ever Para sport medal within the Games to add further lustre to a career that saw her win 14 Paralympic track titles between 1996 and 2008.

By the time the Commonwealth Games returned to Britain for the Glasgow 2014 edition, 22 Para sport medal events were featured.

The integrated programme for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games took Para sport representation up another level.

A total of 300 Para athletes contested 38 medal events across seven sports, representing an increase of 45 per cent more athletes and 73 per cent more medals compared to the Para sport competition staged at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Para swimming and Para athletics programmes doubled in size compared to the previous Games.

Para triathlon made its debut, building on the success of the triathlon competition at Glasgow 2014 and the sport’s increasing worldwide profile.

Para sport at Gold Coast 2018 also reached its widest ever audience as the first ever wheelchair marathon (T54) at a Commonwealth Games took to the streets and communities of the Gold Coast as part of the free road events.

This increase in participation was underpinned by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) strategic plan, Transformation 2022, which ensured that member associations were supported and subsidised to enable them to send larger Para sport teams to Gold Coast 2018 than any other Commonwealth Games.

Gold Coast 2018 provided home wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley the chance to conclude a memorable career in which he won 13 Paralympic medals, including three golds, and four world titles.

In terms of Commonwealth competition, the Australian won 1500m gold at Delhi 2010 and 1500m silver four years later in Glasgow before making his competitive farewell on the Gold Coast with a second 1500m silver and gold in the marathon - all in the T54 category.

He was given the honour of bearing the Australian flag at the Closing Ceremony.

Those Games also featured a huge contribution from another home Para athlete, T53 wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario, who won both the 1500m and marathon titles.

There were Games records for England’s Sophie Hahn in the T38 100 metres, where she clocked 12.46sec, and Olivia Breen of Wales in the T38 long jump, which she won with an effort of 4.86 metres.

And in the F46 javelin throw Hollie Arnold of Wales set a world and Games record of 44.43m.

Four years on from those hugely successful Gold Coast Games, Birmingham 2022, the biggest multi-sport event to be staged in Britain for a decade, has unveiled its plans to shift Para sports to yet another level.

These Games, scheduled to be held from July 28 to August 8, will feature 283 medal events and eight Para sports - athletics, cycling, powerlifting, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, 3x3 wheelchair basketball and lawn bowls.

Para athletics events such as the 100m T33/T34 and Para swimming events such as the 100m breaststroke SB6 have been added for the first time, with the former offering Britain’s seven-times Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft a new competitive opportunity.

“We’re on track to stage a magnificent edition of the Commonwealth Games and we have seen huge interest in tickets in recent weeks. Now more than ever, people are searching for something to look forward to and that is certainly what we will deliver," said Ian Reid, chief executive of Birmingham 2022.

"There are millions of sports fans out there who, because of the pandemic, have not been able to attend events for 12 months and with things moving in the right direction, and vaccines being rolled out, we are anticipating a huge amount of interest when our tickets go on sale later in the year."

The busiest venue during the Games is set to be the brand new Sandwell Aquatics Centre with 66 medal events in swimming, Para swimming, and diving being held in the state-of-the-art facility.

"We are fortunate to showcase two full weekends of world-class sport, with the event featuring the largest Para sport programme in Commonwealth Games history with an unprecedented platform for women’s sport," said the CGF President, Dame Louise Martin.

"It is a huge source of pride for everyone in the Commonwealth Sport Movement that Birmingham 2022 will be the first major multi-sport event to have more medals for women than men, providing a huge boost for women’s sport."

Reflecting upon her imminent involvement in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Cockroft said: "Obviously the Commonwealth Games is the only place where the Para events are completely integrated. We are not two separate teams. We are just Team England, Team Wales, Team Scotland, Team Northern Ireland, whatever.

"It’s one team, it doesn’t matter if you are able-bodied or disabled, it doesn’t matter what sport you are doing, it doesn’t matter what your ability is. You are there and you are representing your nation, and I can’t wait to be a part of that.

"It’s incredible being in a Paralympic Village, it’s incredible being surrounded by people like you, but I really feel the Commonwealths pushes out there that Para athletes are just as elite as any other athlete.

"We work just as hard. Our sport is just as exciting to watch and I think the Commonwealths show that on a level playing field, they show that we are part of the team and we are exactly the same."

With less than 100 days to go until the scheduled opening of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games details were released of the newly designed medals which will form a physical manifestation of the integration of able-bodied and Para sports.

Designed by three students, the medals will be awarded to all athletes competing across the 19 sports and eight Para sports events.

The medals have been minted in a way that visually impaired athletes can feel the design.

The design and concept of the medals were shortlisted through a competition held by Birmingham’s School of Jewellery and the Commonwealth Games organisers.

The winning all-female team - Amber Alys, Francesca Wilcox and Catarina Rodrigues Caeiro - also designed the ribbon and the box for the medal.

The ribbon attached to the medal is adjustable, so that it sits comfortably when worn, no matter the height of the athlete.

Overall, 1,875 medals will now be produced for the 283 medal events that are part of the Birmingham Games. This is also the first time that there will be more medal events for women (136) than men (134) at the Commonwealth Games. The remaining 13 medals will be awarded in the mixed events.

Among those who will be actively seeking to gain one of those medals, and ideally a golden version, will be Britain’s Kadeena Cox, who has won Paralympic gold, silver and bronze in athletics, and three golds in cycling.

Cox, who has multiple sclerosis, recently visited the rebuilt Alexander Stadium that will host the track and field action in company with Scotland’s Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir, with both announcing their plans to compete in this summer’s Games.

Cox, who had to withdraw from Gold Coast 2018 because of injury, will be targeting the T38 100 metres at Birmingham 2022.

"What I love about the Commonwealth Games is that all of the Para sports are integrated into the main sports programme, so we get to come together as one big team competing on the same stage," Cox said.

"I know Team England will be looking to win as many medals as possible at this home Games, and with a noisy, passionate crowd to inspire us once more, I’m sure the atmosphere will be fantastic."

The latest chapter in the history of Para sports at the Commonwealth Games is about to be writ large.