The 32-year-old won a total of 19 Paralympic medals during her career, including five golds in the S9 classification at Sydney 2000.

Dixon, who served as assistant Chef de Mission of the Canadian team at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto, is also a 10-time world champion and double Commonwealth Games medallist.

She was inducted into the Hall of Fame at a glittering ceremony in Toronto, along with ice hockey’s Bryan Trottier, the winner of six Stanley Cups and Sue Holloway, a four-time Olympian, who in 1976 became the first woman to represent Canada in the Winter and Summer Olympics in the same year.

Others given the honour included Canadian Football League star Mike "Pinball" Clemons, short track speed skater Annie Perreault, doctor Frank Hayden and curler Colleen Jones, a double world champion.

"I’m very proud and very grateful," Dixon told the Whitehorse Star.

"It’s such an incredible opportunity to get to know these six individuals and we’ve kind of become a little family to share our story about sport and retirement and life in general.

“As long as I can remember swimming has been a huge part of my life.

“All my favourite memories of being a kid are swimming, being in a pool, challenging myself trying to learn new techniques and new strokes."

Dixon, who was born without her right leg, which she says turned her "into a little mermaid when my parents put me into the swimming pool", broke several world records and still holds the quickest-ever S9 200m backstroke time.

She retired from professional sport in 2010 and is now pursuing a coaching career along with her work in media.

Dixon was a member of the CBC broadcast team at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

“I knew I was done after [the] 2008 Paralympic Games but I went on for two more years just to remember why I loved it and to end on a positive note," she added.