The Paralympic Games are just around the corner, ready to write new chapters in the history of the competition. It seems that, just like the Olympic Games, these games will not be exempt from controversies related to the gender of athletes. The Paris 2024 event will be the first in history where a transgender person will compete: Italian athlete Valentina Petrillo.
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His participation in the Paralympic Games comes after the controversy that arose, mainly on social media, against boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting in the Olympic Games, as their gender was questioned with false accusations and speculations from a federation linked to Russia that was disaffiliated from the IOC due to various criticisms.
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Who is Valentina Petrillo, the transgender athlete who will participate in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games?
Born in Naples in 1973, Valentina Petrillo will participate in the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the T12 women's category for visually impaired individuals in the 400 meters and 200 meters events. Petrillo began her gender transition in 2019 and, a year later, became the first transgender woman to compete in the women's category of the Italian championship in 2020. Her best results since then have been two bronzes at the 2023 Paris World Championships and a fifth place at the 2021 European Championships.
Last year, the 51-year-old athlete sparked controversy by leaving out the Spanish athlete Melani Bergés, who confessed to feeling "quite frustrated" and "hurt by the injustice." "How the body works and the reality is that in the end she has developed as a biological man for many years and that may have helped her," the Spanish athlete stated in an interview with the site Relevo.
Petrillo, who competed with the Italian men's futsal team before transitioning to athletics, was diagnosed with Stargardt syndrome at the age of 14, the same disease that would later cause her visual impairment.
Despite the criticism he has received, especially in recent months since it was known that he would participate in Paris 2024, Petrillo has remained firm in his belief that he deserves to compete. In recent interviews, he has defended his right to participate, stating that his performance is comparable to that of any other female athlete and that there is no scientific evidence to prove that he has an advantage.
“I have to give hope, I want to become the symbol of a world that is rebelling,” declared to the Italian portal Fanpage.