The Italian transgender woman wins every women’s athletics competition. So was it possible?

Recently, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation adopted a law on a complete ban in our country on gender reassignment operations without obvious medical indications. As the head of the upper house of parliament Valentina Matvienko said, “there are no dangerous gender games in Russia and will not be.” However, in European countries they do not think so, their “dangerous games” take place between times with all the ensuing scandals. And if the same unfortunate South African racer Caster Semenya can still be somehow understood in her struggle for her testosterone (she was born like that), then in Italy the situation is clearly out of sporting control.

In Italy, a new page has unfolded in the history of what such “games” in top-level sports can turn into. Bronze in the 400m at the Paralympic World Championships in Athletics in Paris was won by a 49-year-old athlete representing her country in the T12 category for blind athletes. Five years ago the Italian athlete was an athlete and now, in her advanced age for athletics, she easily beats women much younger than her.

When there is absolutely no competition in the industry, it is not difficult to assume that the Italian Valentina Petrillo will qualify for the 2024 Paralympics without problems. Such scandalous cases are already causing outrage among many representatives of the “queen of sports”. Newborn Valentina’s physique doesn’t look much like a woman, greatly surpassing her rivals on the treadmill in masculinity. However, given the implementation of all the prescribed rules of hormone therapy, Petrillo meets all the requirements for the amount of testosterone that has the right to be contained in her body. But competitive justice suffers greatly from the fact that, whatever one may say, the Italian’s chances are several times more serious than those of his opponents.

“I don’t think there is fair competition. The physical structure of Petrillo’s body is clearly masculine. The destiny chosen by Valentina is his business. But from a sporting point of view this is not the case. Because of his presence at the starts, ordinary women feel discriminated against,” says Cristina Sanulli, who lost to Petrillo at the Italian Championship.

Valentina Petrillo’s social networks

The human rights organization RadFem Italia recently broke the news that a transgender runner is squeamish about women’s locker rooms and asked a reasonable question: “If you admit that Petrillo’s body is male before and after the competition, it is not clear why he should be female during the competition?”. In response, Valentina pointed out the “Nazi” methods of discussing her gender. “Better to be a slow and happy woman than a fast and unhappy man. I don’t feel like I’m stealing from anyone,” Petrillo said in an interview with the BBC. Specifically, after moving up to the women’s category in 2019, the Italian won nine titles in track and field competitions, among which she acquired gold in all short distances: 100m, 200m and 400m in the T12 category at her country’s championship.

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Fabrizio Petrillo, a 14-year-old teenager, has been diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a degenerative eye disease that cannot be cured. When the young man turned 20, he decided to go to university and started studying computer science for the blind. There he got into the sport and even joined the Italian Paralympic futsal team. Petrillo started racing at the age of 41 and in less than three years he managed to win 11 awards in the T12 category. In 2018, the male Petrillo confessed to his family that he has decided to become a woman, and every now and then. Surprisingly, she Valentina continues to live with his wife, raising two children.

Under World Para Athletics Federation rules, “an athlete is eligible to compete in women’s competition if she is officially recognized as a female by law.” The Italian has confirmation of this, and in 2020 she also attempted to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics. But the local federation feared scandal, given the hype that has arisen due to the New Zealand transgender weightlifter Lauren Hubbard. As a result, Petrillo was not taken to the Paralympic team. Today Valentina is ready to fight to the last, but to access the exhibitions at the next Paris Olympics.