IT — Jesolo, Venice. On September 11 and 12, 2020, Valentina Petrillo won gold in the women’s 100-, 200- and 400-metre competitions at the Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships. Petrillo, who is listed as male on identification documents, became the first male athlete to compete against women in Paralympic events. Up until identifying as a woman in 2019, Petrillo competed as a man, and won 11 national men’s titles between 2016 and 2018.
In 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued guidelines that allow any males to compete in women’s races if they keep their testosterone levels at a maximum of 10 nanomoles per litre for 12 months prior to competing and during competition – which is significantly higher than the testosterone levels of most women (typically between 1.12 to 1.79 nmol/L). The Italian Federation for Paralympic and Experimental Sport (FISPES) has adopted these IOC guidelines.
Is this the one you’re thinking of? Or is there more? https://t.co/SyCP5g61Vz
— Mexx (@Mexx_woman) September 13, 2020
Petrillo decided to transition at age 44, because “it had become unsustainable” to continue competing against men. According to OutSports, at age 46 “Petrillo has the speed to qualify for Tokyo at 100, 200 and 400 meters.”
In 2018, aged 44, presumably just as their male Paralympic career was coming to an end, this person decided to 'transition' and compete in women's events, prolonging their career by several years
— ripx4nutmeg (@ripx4nutmeg) September 12, 2020
Competing as a woman in the Tokyo Paralymics is the next goal, which Petrillo feels is completely fair, due to now being 1.5 seconds slower in the 200 metres compared to pre-transition. Petrillo states:
We all have the right to be happy. And if I made it everyone can. I’d like to be talked about for my sporting results rather than for who I am. I hope to win the race, shake hands with the other girls on the podium and receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
ACTION
Sign the Save Women’s Sports petition to the International Olympic Committee that male athletes should not compete in female sports. Shop or Donate to Save Women’s Sports, “a coalition that seeks to preserve biology-based eligibility standards for participation in female sports”.
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Read more on this story
Italian transgender athlete sees no unfair advantage in women’s competition
Reuters
ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Valentina Petrillo, set to become the first transgender Paralympian to compete in an official women’s event on Friday, has played down controversy over whether trans athletes have an unfair advantage, saying hormone therapy has battered her performance.
Italy’s Valentina Petrillo takes a powerful step towards Tokyo
MSN
Italian track and field athlete Valentina Petrillo, a transgender woman seeking to qualify for next year’s Paralympics in Tokyo, has seen her dream delayed due to the Covid pandemic, and denied because of who she is.
I hope they can use this as an example when it goes to court of how it will affect us.
How is it that these athletes openly admit their transitions give them advantage, yet these “queer” activists still defend them? Sickening.
I wish people would stop thinking that maybe a lot of people just don’t know this is happening!! BULLSHIT!! THEY KNOW AND DON’T CARE CAUSE IT AFFECTS WOMEN!!!! IF THIS AFFECTED MEN IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OVER YEARS AGO!!