An Italian sprinter who is a biological male and believes he is a woman has been selected to represent his country at the Paralympic Games.
Valentina Petrillo, 50, began “transitioning” five years ago, according to several reports.
Previously, Petrillo won bronze in the women’s 200 and 400 meters at the World Para Athletics Championships last year in Paris. Before transitioning, he won 11 national titles in the men’s category.
Petrillo is visually impaired. His visual abilities are limited to 1/50th of the normal range after he was diagnosed with Stargardt’s syndrome at the age of 14, resulting in the deterioration of her sight, the New York Post noted.
“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,” Petrillo reportedly said Monday after he was selected.
50-year-old Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo to become first transgender Paralympian https://t.co/Ow4IzvUrSL pic.twitter.com/0Zxm3Wm8Pt
— New York Post (@nypost) August 13, 2024
In an interview with BBC, Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), said that Petrillo would be "welcome" in Paris under current World Para Athletics policies. He claimed that he also wants to see the sporting world "unite" on its transgender policies.
"I do think that the sport movement has to, guided by science, come up with better answers for these situations and for transgender athletes," Parsons said.
"We need to, based on science, have a better and probably a united answer to this population,” he added. "We need to come up with a valid, solid, sound answer for that population."
As for Petrillo’s participation, he said, “I am prepared for the criticism.”
Earlier this month, intense controversy arose at the Olympic games when a female boxer, Angela Carini, from Italy, quit after just 46 seconds against her opponent, Imane Khelif, from Algeria. Many reports indicate that Khelif is believed to be a biological male with XY chromosomes.
In a separate incident at this year’s Games, Lin Yu‑ting, another boxer who is believed to be transgender, easily defeated female athlete Sitora Turdibekova, from Uzbekistan.
Last year, Khelif and Lin were not permitted to compete in an international boxing championship for women because they failed a gender eligibility test.