The decision to allow the first ever trans athlete to compete as a woman in the Paralympics has caused outrage.
But not everyone shares her view, with Olympic medalist Sharron Davies leading the backlash over letting Petrillo, who transitioned in 2019, compete in the women’s category.
She joined former British marathon runner Mara Yamauchi, who already voiced her fury last year after Petrillo won two bronze medals at the Para Athletics World Championships, writing: ‘Yet another female athlete robbed.’
Petrillo has repeatedly hit back at her critics, writing last year that those who criticise her inclusion in women’s sprinting events are ‘like Hitler’.
The trans athlete said that critics turning away from her in protest at awards ceremonies are ‘like Hitler’ when he excluded Jews from joining the German national team in 1933.
Should transgender athletes have their own category?
‘You even questioned whether I had vision problems. You relegated me to a “dedicated” bathroom like you do with plague victims. […] This is called Xenophobia,’ she wrote on her Facebook page last year.
What are the rules on trans athletes competing at the Paralympics?
Under Rule 4.5 of World Para Athletics’ rules and regulations, the governing body states that athletes who are legally recognised as a women are eligible to compete in female disciplines.
That policy differs from World Athletics’ stance, however, who banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s events in March 2023, with Lord Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, stating that the decision was taken to ensure fairness and ‘protect the female category’.
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president, Andrew Parsons, told BBC Sport that Petrillo would be ‘welcome’ at the upcoming games. But he also hoped that sporting bodies around the world could someday unite on their stance on the participation of transgender athletes.
Petrillo won bronze in the T12 200m and 400m at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships – with Peter Eriksen, Canada’s former Olympic head coach, calling the results ‘shocking’ – and will compete in the T12 200m and 400m in Paris.
Speaking on her selection by the Italian team for the upcoming Paralympics, Petrillo – who will begin her attempts to win at the upcoming games in the T12 women’s 400m on Monday, September 2, – thanked organisers for her selection.
‘I have been waiting for this day for three years and in these past three years I have done everything possible to earn it,’ Petrillo told BBC Sport.
‘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.’
Others who waded into the gender row around Petrillo’s participation were Sex Matters’ Maya Forstater, who shared a post on X calling the sprinter being allowed to compete with women more than 18 years younger than her ‘absurd’.
Petrillo competed in men’s national races before transitioning in 2019. The athlete was born with Stargardt disease – a degenerative eye condition where tissue develops on the small part of a person’s retina that is used for sharp vision.
Common symptoms include a gradual loss of eyesight and the illness is believed to be caused by changes in a person’s genes. There is no known cure for the illness. There is no cure for Stargardt disease.
In 2017, Petrillo had told her wife that she was transgender and would later start hormone treatment, with her wife supporting her through 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: “Remember I told you once I dressed up as a woman?” She said: “In reality, it wasn’t once, I do it every day.”‘
In 2021, Petrillo, who is just under 5ft 10in tall and weighs 13lb heavier than before transitioning.
Petrillo’s times are slower than before transitioning despite taking home gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m T12 events at the national championships.
Petrillo previously told the BBC: ‘Better to be a slow happy woman than a fast unhappy man. I don’t feel like I’m stealing anything from anyone.’
The athlete also previously reported side-effects including being anaemic, experiencing mood swings and feeling physically weaker.
‘I understand the doubts, but I do not think I have an advantage,’ Petrillo said in 2020. ‘My performances have dropped mercilessly.’
Petrillo hoped this would result in a place at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 – but the Italian Disabled Sports Association refused to grant a nomination.
It did not give its reasons for the decision publicly, but the Telegraph reported that it had been under intense pressure from the athlete’s fellow competitors.
In 2023, when Petrillo won a 200m women’s race in Ancona, Cristina Sanulli, who finished second said: ‘We do not feel equal because Petrillo’s physical structure is male. So we are not running at par.
‘Although the personal path that Valentina has taken is respectable, athletically speaking it is not, and because of this we feel very discriminated against.’
