Valentina Petrillo is set to make history as the first-ever trans Paralympian. The visually impaired sprinter has been selected to represent Italy in the women’s T12 200 and 400 metre races at the 2024 Games in Paris, taking place later this autumn.
Diagnosed with Stargardt’s syndrome at the age of 14, Petrillo’s sight is limited to 1/50th of the normal range. Since transitioning in 2019, the now 50-year-old missed out on competing in the Tokyo Paralympics but won bronze in both of her events at the World Para Athletics Championships last year.
After being announced on Italy’s team, Petrillo said: “I have been waiting for this day for three years and in these past three years I have done everything possible to earn it. I deserve this selection and I want to thank the Italian Paralympic Federation and the Italian Paralympic Committee for having always believed in me, above all as a person as well as an athlete.
“The historic value of being the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics is an important symbol of inclusion,” she added.
“This is not a lifestyle choice for me, this is who I am. And the way I am, like all transgender people who do not feel they belong to their biological gender, should not be discriminated against in the same way that race, religion or political ideology should not be discriminated against.
“And sport that imposes rules based on a binary way of thinking does not factor this in. It is sport that has to find a solution and excluding transgender athletes is clearly not that solution.
“Ultimately, in the seven years in which transgender athletes have been able to compete in the female category, the number of instances in which they have stood out for their sporting results have been very few and far between.”
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While trans athletes are banned from many sports around the globe, World Para Athletics permits individuals with legal gender recognition to compete in the women’s category for which their impairment qualifies them. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) allows governing bodies to set their own participation policies, and therefore the organisation’s president, Andrew Parsons, told BBC Sport that Valentina Petrillo is “welcome” at the Games.
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