The 24-year-old amputee lost her lower left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001. She competed in the 10-kilometer open-water swim at the Beijing Olympics last month and finished 16th.

At the Paralympics, she is on a quest for five gold medals that would equal her haul from the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

She wanted to shoot for six golds, but an administrative error kept her from entering the 100-meter backstroke on time. She won silver in that event in Athens.

“My message isn’t just to disabled people,” du Toit said after her Olympic event last month. “It’s to everyone out there that you have to work hard. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs … but I’ve seen a lot of good things along the way. I was able to use the negativism in a good light and say after my accident, ‘I can still do it if I work hard.’ “