On a warm autumn morning in Paris on Monday, a group of women gathered for the occasion to which they had dedicated three years of enormously challenging lives.
A Cuban who has become an icon of para-sport, an Iranian who has become a symbol of freedom for millions of people in her country and one of the most beloved sportswomen in Mexico were among the participants in the 400 meters heats of the Paralympic Games for women with visual impairment.
It was in the last of four qualifying rounds that a competitor prepared for the Paralympic Games. Her presence was an insult to those women, to their years of dedication against all odds, and to the integrity of the Paralympic Games.
Italian Valentina Petrillo, a 51-year-old athlete who has won 11 national men’s titles, had two children and continues to compete as a man at the age of 45, has claimed the right to compete in the women’s category for the sake of “luck”.
As a man, Petrillo’s standards were mediocre and not comparable to the minimum male qualification standard for the Paralympics. As a recategorized woman, she has become a serial winner, setting six Italian Paralympic records, reaching a European final and collecting two international medals.
Italian Valentina Petrillo, a father of two and still active as a man at the age of 45, has claimed the right to compete in the women’s category for the sake of ‘luck’
Petrillo competed as a man at the age of 45, but is now allowed to compete in the Paralympics
Last year, the former computer scientist won bronze in the 200m at the World Para-Athletics Championships in Paris
Last year, the former computer scientist won bronze in the 200m at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, beating Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi off the podium. Petrillo was 18 years older than anyone else in the field.
The sight of Petrillo beating the diminutive Chinese athlete Shen Yaqin, 17 years her junior, in their preliminary round was truly proof that a Paralympic sport has lost all grip on reality.
Petrillo ran like a good club rider on the outside track and although she was passed by a very capable Venezuelan, who won the heat, her Chinese opponent, who was not at all as muscular as Petrillo, looked like a bum.
The sense of injustice was further compounded when Petrillo was diagnosed with the degenerative eye condition Stargardt Disease as a child and had to run without a guide, while her opponents needed one.
Petrillo should not have been allowed to compete in the Olympics because the governing body of world athletics, which has for years been grappling with how to deal with transgender athletes while maintaining a level playing field for women, acted on multiple scientific studies by restricting international women’s competitions exclusively to women born female.
But the similar organization World Para Athletics says transgender athletes only need to prove they are a “recognized woman in law” and provide evidence that their testosterone levels “have been below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months.”
The upper limit of the standard female range is 2.4. Petrillo has undergone testosterone-lowering treatment. You only have to watch some of Britain’s Paralympians up close this week to see that behind the inclusion narrative of these Games are athletes desperate to succeed, beyond despair if they don’t.
Kadeena Cox was still crying on the floor of the velodrome, 15 minutes after crashing in the first corner of her time trial. Badminton player Dan Bethell was at a loss for words after losing his gold medal match.
To welcome a runner who five years ago would have described himself as a ‘father of two’ is something these people laugh at. It is nothing short of a disgrace.
According to the World Para Athletics Organization, transgender athletes only need to demonstrate that they are a “recognized woman in law” and that their testosterone levels “have been below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months.”
In a documentary aired this summer, Petrillo, who is biologically male, admitted that women had a right to feel “surprise, confusion and doubt” about her. But after reaching the semi-finals last night as the sixth-fastest, three seconds ahead of Shen, she was bursting with a sense of entitlement.
She limited interviews to the Paralympics’ internal broadcasting department, saying: “I don’t want to hear about discrimination or prejudice against transgender people. Let’s look at this as a historic day. Now that I’ve made it, if I’ve made it, we can all make it. I’ve done my bit. We won’t stop.”
And that is exactly what the women fighting alongside Petrillo, who steadfastly avoided contact with her on Monday morning, fear most.
In a documentary that aired this summer, Petrillo, who is biologically male, admitted that women have the right to feel “surprise, confusion and doubt” about their
Institutional cowardice has opened the door to elite women’s sports to an individual who should not be there. Who knows how many more will follow?
After finishing third in her semifinal on Monday night but not making it to Tuesday’s final, she wept in the athlete/media mix zone. “They’re stronger than me,” she said. “But I hope my son will be proud of me. This is important to me because he has a trans father. He doesn’t have the father that everyone dreams of. But I hope he will be proud of me.”
It was a far cry from the triumphant tone she struck after reaching the semifinals as the sixth-fastest runner, three seconds ahead of Shen. “From today on, I don’t want to hear any more talk about discrimination or prejudice against transgender people,” she said then. “I’ve done my part. We won’t stop.”
That’s exactly what many of the women competing alongside Petrillo are worried about. She’ll be back in the 200m on Friday.