A sprinter is poised to make history as the first transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympics, scheduled to take place between 28 August and 8 September.
Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, 50, began her journey with gender-affirming treatment in 2019, undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This historic event will see her competing in the women’s T12 classification, for athletes with visual impairments. Petrillo will participate in the T12 200m and 400m races.
Petrillo expressed to BBC Sport that her participation in the Paralympic Games represents an ‘important symbol of inclusion’. A talented athlete, she won two bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships in 2023.
The President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Andrew Parsons, confirmed that Petrillo is ‘welcome’ in Paris under the World Para Athletics policies. However, he expressed a desire for the sporting world to ‘unite’ on transgender policies in the future.
What is Valentina Petrillo’s story?
Petrillo has shared that she knew she was a woman since the age of nine. She was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition, at 14, leading to her eventual participation in the Paralympics.
Between 2015 and 2018, Petrillo won 11 national titles in the male T12 category. In 2019, with the support of her wife, she began receiving gender-affirming treatment.
Talking about how her transition affected her sports skill, she told the BBC, “I’m not the energetic person I was. In the first months of transition, I put on 10kg.”
She continued, “I can’t eat the way I did before. I became anaemic, my haemoglobin is low, I’m always cold, I don’t have the same physical strength, my sleep isn’t what it was, and I have mood swings. I’m not the same as before.”
She added, “As a sportsperson, accepting that you won’t go as fast as before is challenging. I had to accept this compromise, as it is a compromise, for my happiness.”
Despite these challenges, Petrillo has gone on to secure medals at the World Para Athletics Championships and the National Para Championships post-transition. She has also competed in masters athletics events against non-disabled women.
The rules in sport
There is no unified stance on transgender inclusion in sport. The IPC allows international sport governing bodies to make their own decisions.
World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in the female category at international events. Meanwhile, World Para Athletics’ rules state that a person legally recognised as a woman is eligible to compete.
Parsons stated that Petrillo is ‘welcome’ at the Paralympic Games according to the rules. He added, “I think it is only fair that we treat [transgender athletes] respectfully. However, science should provide us with answers since we also aim to be fair to other athletes on the field. It is a complex issue, and science, hopefully, will offer a solution. What I would like to see in the future is a united stance across the entire sports community.”
Petrillo’s views on competing at the Paralympics
To BBC Sport, Petrillo stated, “I have been waiting for this day for three years and, in this time, 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 always believing in me, both as a person and an athlete.”
When addressing critics, she emphasized, “This is not a lifestyle choice for me; this is who I am. Like all transgender people who do not feel they belong to their biological gender, I should not be discriminated against, just as race, religion, or political beliefs should not cause discrimination. Sport with rules based on a binary way of thinking does not take this into account. It is sport that must find a solution, and excluding transgender athletes is not it. In the seven years that transgender athletes have been allowed to compete in the female category, instances of them standing out due to sporting results have been very rare.”
