Valentina Petrillo is set to become the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games in Paris. The visually impaired sprinter, 50, has been selected to represent Italy in the 200m and 400m races.
Petrillo, 50, transitioned in 2019, having previously won 11 national titles in male competition.
She also represented the visually impaired national futsal team.
But last year Petrillo, who was diagnosed with Stargardt disease at the age of 14, made history in France last year when she became the first transgender athlete to compete in the World Para Athletics Championships. In the same events in which she’ll compete in this month, the athlete won two bronze medals, despite claiming her fitness levels have rescinded since her transition.
She has two national records to her name as a female, in the T13 class at 400m and the T12 class in 200m. And in a released statement, she explained it had not yet sunk in that she had been selected to compete in the Paralympics.
“I still find it hard to believe it and I’m keeping my feet on the ground because my chance to participate in Tokyo was missed by a whisker,” she said. “I will only start thinking about the Paris Games once I arrive in France.”
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has allowed participating nations to set their own regulations on selection for transgender athletes. Under current World Para Athletics rules, a person who is legally recognised as a woman is eligible to compete in the category their impairment qualifies them for.
Although IPC president Andrew Parsons has insisted the organisation have to respect the governance, he’s previously acknowledged the decision will come under scrutiny. “I am prepared for the criticism,” he said.
“But again we need to respect our rules, we cannot disrespect our rules. So sometimes as an individual I think one way or another, but we need to follow our constitution, we need to follow our own rules and in the specific sports the rules of the international federations need to be respected. So for the moment World Para Athletics rules allow her to compete, so she will be welcome as any other athlete.”
Mariuccia Quilleri, a lawyer who has represented a number of athletes opposed to Petrillo’s participation in women’s races, said inclusion had been chosen over fairness. But he’s also publicly stated “there is not much more we can do” amid the regulations.
Petrillo’s involvement follows Olympic boxing controversy, which saw both Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting win gold in their female categories. Neither athlete is transgender but were banned from competing at the World Championships last year after being deemed to have been born with an excess level of XY chromosomes.
