Swimming 100 metres in under 60 seconds has always had a particular resonance in sport. It was first achieved in 1922 by the American Johnny Weissmuller, in a breakthrough almost as significant in swimming as Roger Bannister’s sub-four-minute mile was in athletics 32 years later.

Weissmuller, who subsequently won five Olympic gold medals and starred as Tarzan in 12 films, was the glamorous pioneer of this feat. The achievement is like a golfer going round an 18-hole course in par figures. It is a hallmark of ability. When Dave Roberts goes to the blocks in Beijing tomorrow, he will be focused on retaining his 100m Paralympics freestyle title by breaking this barrier. Although the able-bodied world record is now 47.05sec, held by the Australian Eamon Sullivan, the 28-year-old Welshman says a sub-60-second time remains “a golden chalice” and one that he yearns to grasp.

Roberts talks about the history and status of the 100m with rare enthusiasm, remembering Weissmuller and pointing to the fact that a sub-60-second time remains the stamp of a “good club-class, able-bodied swimmer. If I do that time, I know where I can stand. I want to be as good as that”.

He has come what he describes as “tantalisingly close” to the figure in Sheffield last April when he improved his world record for swimmers with cerebral palsy by clocking 60.34sec. Now, competing in the Water Cube where so many world records were set during the Beijing Olympics, there is an eminently suitable opportunity for the feat to be achieved tomorrow. The spare, empty lanes on either side of the pool result in less water turbulence in the remainder of the lanes. Roberts says: “I have just had a training session in there. It’s awe-inspiring, particularly after what happened in the Olympics. You cannot but help swim your best. I have a lot of confidence and my training times have improved. I am also using the same taper in training \ that I did in Sheffield. I know it works.”

Did he see Michael Phelps win his eight gold medals in China? “You bet,” he says. “The man is a fish, I’m convinced of it. He’s an inspiration to all of us.” An equal inspiration is Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, whose total of 11 gold medals from five Paralympics Roberts could overhaul in Beijing. He already has seven golds and will compete in five events in these Games. Apart from the 100m, he will race in the 50m and 400m freestyle, as well as two relays. “If I miss it \ in Beijing, I’ll definitely get it in London,” he says. “However, I should not be mentioned in the same breath as her. She is Mrs Paralympics and getting more medals is not something that drives me on. If it happens, it happens.”

Britain is relying on competitors such as Roberts to build on some great success at the past two Paralympics, having finished second in the medal table at both events. However, with increasing numbers of countries taking the Paralympics seriously and with 4,099 athletes from 145 nations participating this time, it will not be easy to stay in the top three.

Penny Briscoe, the deputy Chef de Mission, says Britain is hoping for between 35 and 40 gold medals. “Although there is jostling among the top 10 in the pecking order, we have the advantage that the Chinese have not targeted athletics and swimming, two of our strongest sports,” she says. “Still, the United States are progressing quickly and 10% of their team here has come from wounded service personnel.”

Phil Lane, Great Britain’s Chef de Mission, adds: “Then there are the Australians, who are looking for revenge after the Beijing Olympics. I have been across to their Chef de Mission, Darren Peters, to remind him that lions eat kangaroos. It is part of our banter. We are on a really good high after the Olympics. The spirit of the athletes has been lifted. Many of them train alongside the Olympic guys and can relate to them very closely.”

A perfect example is judo, a sport in which someone who is visually-impaired, such as Sam Ingram, can often be a formidable opponent for able-bodied fighters, when grips have been fixed, because he is particularly sensitive to any change in the balance of the person with whom he is tussling. Ingram was second in the 2007 world championships in the under-90kg class and trains regularly with British Olympic squad members.

In athletics, Dan Greaves, who was born with a foot deformity, became the first Paralympian to represent Britain in non-disabled athletics when he was selected for the discus for the British Junior team in 2001. Since then, Greaves has won the gold medal in the F44/46 category discus throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, establishing a new world record of 55.12m. He had previously won silver at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney and in 2005 improved his world record with a throw of 55.53m with the 1.5kg implement.

Now studying for an MSC in sports science and business management at Loughborough University, he trains with a squad of able-bodied competitors.

Like the late Al Oerter, the American winner of a record four successive Olympic titles, who once compared the pleasure of discus throwing to that which children get from skimming stones across a flat sea, Greaves revels in the physical action, saying: “When you release a discus, you know straight away how good the throw has been. If you strike it perfectly, it is like a flying saucer.”

He was “glued” to the television during the Olympics. “I didn’t want to miss a thing,” he says. “It was great to watch all the success. And now it’s our turn.”

Going for glory: the ones to watch in China

- Helene Raynsford, who has already represented the British wheelchair basketball team and featured in the Sunday Times’ new advertising campaign in July, will be in action in the inaugural women’s arms single sculls event. Raynsford is the 2006 world champion. Another British world champion in rowing is Tom Aggar, who races in the men’s equivalent race. Aggar is a former rugby player, having been with Saracens’ youth development squad, before he was left paralysed after an accident in 2005

- Two South Africans could dominate the headlines. Swimmer Natalie du Toit, who finished 16th in the 10km swim at the Olympic Games, won five gold medals at the last Paralympics. 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius, right, will capture the attention on the track when he runs in the 100m, 200m and 400m

- The youngest member of the British team is swimmer Eleanor Simmonds, who is 13. She was born with achondroplasia (dwarfism) and earlier this year she broke the 400m freestyle world record and is expected to compete in the 50m, 100m, 400m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 200m individual medley

- David Weir, the British wheelchair racer who has won the Flora London Marathon for the last three years, will be aiming for a stunning feat. He is competing in the 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon. The latter event takes place the morning after the 1500m the previous night