The decision to allow the first trans athlete to compete as a woman at the Paralympics has caused outrage.
Visually impaired Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, 50, is set to become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympics and believes her participation is an “important symbol of inclusion”.
But not everyone shares her opinion. Olympic medallist Sharron Davies is leading the backlash against the decision to allow Petrillo, who transitioned in 2019, to compete in the women’s category.
“Another man excluding women from his own category. Women cannot be included in the rules of progressive sports, there is only injustice, greater danger in a combat sport and a lack of respect for the very meaning of the categories,” wrote Davies in X.
She joined former British marathon runner Mara Yamauchi, who already expressed her fury last year after Petrillo won two bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships, writing: “Another female athlete robbed.”
Petrillo has repeatedly responded to her critics, writing last year that those who criticise her inclusion in women’s sprint events are “like Hitler”.
Visually impaired Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo (pictured), 50, is set to become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympics.
But not everyone shares her opinion, with Olympic medallist Sharron Davies leading the backlash against the decision to let Petrillo compete in the women’s category.
Petrillo, who made the transition in 2019, will compete in the 200m and 400m T12 in Paris.
The trans athlete said critics who turn their backs on her in protest during award ceremonies are “like Hitler” when he excluded Jews from joining the German national team in 1933.
“You even questioned whether I have vision problems. You relegated me to a ‘specialized’ bathroom like you do with plague victims. (…) This is called xenophobia,” she wrote on her Facebook page last year.
Petrillo won bronze in the 200m and 400m T12 at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships (former Canadian Olympic coach Peter Eriksen called the results “shocking”) and will compete in the 200m and 400m T12 in Paris.
Speaking about her selection by the Italian team for the upcoming Paralympic Games, Petrillo, who will begin her bid to win at the upcoming games in the women’s 400m T12 on Monday 2 September, thanked the organisers for her selection.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for three years and over the last three years I’ve done everything I can to earn it,” Petrillo said. BBC Sports.
‘I deserve this selection and I would like to thank the Italian Paralympic Federation and the Italian Paralympic Committee for always believing in me, above all as a person and as an athlete.
‘The historic value of being the first transgender woman to compete in the Paralympic Games is an important symbol of inclusion.’
Others who joined the gender dispute surrounding Petrillo’s participation were Maya Forstater of Sex Matters, who shared a post on X in which she called it “absurd” that the sprinter is allowed to compete with women 18 years younger than her.
Another person commented on X: ‘This is so unfair,’ and a second added: ‘This needs to be stopped.’
Petrillo competed in men’s national races before making the transition in 2019. The athlete was born with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition in which tissue develops in the small part of a person’s retina used for sharp vision.
The most common symptoms include a gradual loss of vision and the disease is thought to be caused by changes in a person’s genes. There is no known cure for the disease. There is no cure for Stargardt disease.
In 2017, Petrillo had told his wife that he was transgender and would later begin hormone treatment, with his wife’s support throughout the process. They remain married and have two children.
She said: “I hadn’t planned it. I was in bed with my wife, about to fall asleep, and I said to her: ‘Do you remember I told you I once dressed as a woman? ’ She said: ‘Actually, it wasn’t just once, I do it every day. ’”
Valentina Petrillo of Italy poses after competing in the 100m T12 during the Paralympic Games in Athletics Italy at Stadio Armando Picchi on September 11, 2020 in Jesolo, Italy
Petrillo (pictured above in Paris last year) was born with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye disease in which tissue develops in the small part of a person’s retina used for sharp vision.
Valentina Petrillo of Italy competes in the women’s 400m T12 final during day six of the Paris 2023 World Para Athletics Championships at the Stade Charlety on July 13, 2023 in Paris, France.
Petrillo transitioned in 2019. Petrillo’s wife supported the athlete during his transition and they remain married and live together with their two children.
Petrillo would compete in her first race as a transgender athlete at the Italian Paralympic Championships in September 2020. It was here that she won gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m T12 events.
In 2021, Petrillo, who stands just under 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 13 pounds more than he did before the transition.
Petrillo’s times are slower than before the transition despite taking gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m T12 events at the national championships.
Petrillo previously told the BBC: “It’s better to be a happy, slow woman than an unhappy, fast man. I don’t feel like I’m stealing anything from anyone.”
The athlete has also previously reported side effects including anemia, mood swings and feeling physically weaker.
“I understand the doubts, but I don’t think I have an advantage,” Petrillo said in 2020. “My performances have fallen mercilessly.”
Petrillo had hoped this would earn him a spot at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, but the Italian Association of Sports for the Disabled refused to grant him a nomination.
He did not publicly state the reasons for his decision, but the Telegraph reported that he had been under intense pressure from the athlete’s competitors.
In 2023, when Petrillo won the women’s 200-meter race in Ancona, Cristina Sanulli, who came second, said: ‘We don’t feel equal because Petrillo’s physical structure is masculine. So we are not running at the same level.
‘Although Valentina’s personal path is respectable, from a sporting point of view it is not and that is why we feel very discriminated against.’