On the final morning of the Paralympic Games, which open in Beijing today, David Weir will make a decision on whether to compete in the marathon. "It could be one race too far," he said. He has entered the 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5,000m and marathon, and the marathon takes place less than 12 hours after the 1500m.

David Weir will be competing in his third Paralympic Games. [Agencies]

The 29-year-old from Wallington, Surrey, could conceivably leave Beijing with five medals, possibly all gold. He is one of 4,000 disabled athletes gathering for 11 days of competition for a championships which, in the past decade, has grown in stature. Beijing's motto is "Two Games, equal splendour".

As Ade Adepitan, a former Paralympic wheelchair basketball competitor who will be working as a BBC summariser in Beijing, says: "You might think the Paralympics is just a lot of hard-luck stories and tales of triumph over adversity, but it's not. It's about the sport. Yes, there are participants who have overcome unimaginable circumstances as a result of war, accidents and prejudice to compete. But you often find that at an Olympics as well."

Weir was born with spinal cord transection that left him without the use of his legs. But he said: "I was brought up as David Weir, not poor David Weir in a wheelchair. My mates don't see the wheelchair, they just see me."

He is no stranger to Beijing's Birds' Nest stadium. In May he won the 5,000m at the warm-up event and has spent 10 days at the British holding camp in Macao, near Hong Kong.

"I'm itching to get on that track and try and do my best," says Weir who won 100m silver and 200m bronze four years ago in Athens. "I'm on form, times are looking good; it was red hot in Hong Kong but I was still pushing well in the humidity. It feels a lot cooler here."

If he completes the full schedule, he will compete on 14 occasions, including heats. He says: "I have only two days when it's two races, so that's pretty good for me - I train twice a day anyway."

Britain's Olympic team left Beijing with 47 medals, including 19 golds. The 206-strong Paralympic squad could win as many as 100 after finishing second in the medal table behind China with 94 medals, of which 35 were gold, in Athens.

Rowing makes its Paralympic debut in Beijing, while Britain will be represented in the five-a-side blind football for the first time. But it is back on the track where the biggest star will be. South Africa's Oscar Pistorius won the right to take part in the able-bodied Olympics but failed to make the team. Running on his J-shaped carbon fibre legs, he will be competing in the Paralympic 100m, 200m and 400m.