Just a few weeks after the Olympic controversies against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, a new hate campaign, born on social media and based on discrimination and misinformation, has already started to tarnish the Paris Paralympics.
The protagonist in this case is Valentina Petrillo, a sprinter and the first transgender athlete in history to compete. A different case from that of gold medalist Khelif, but nonetheless attracting similar attention from right-wing and gender critical circles.
In our country, the Undersecretary of Justice from Fratelli d’Italia, Andrea Delmastro, spoke of a “Taliban gender ideology” and referred to the blue athlete as “constitutionally, biologically, muscled, and structurally male.” FdI’s Member of the European Parliament, Nicola Procaccini, blamed Petrillo for qualifying instead of the Spanish Melani Berges. In the United Kingdom, the Telegraph published a harsh editorial by Julie Bindel against Petrillo, labeling her as an “a cheat.”
The Story
In September 2020, Valentina Petrillo became the first transgender Paralympic athlete to participate in an Italian championship in the female category she feels she belongs to. And in 2021, she was the first to run with the Italian National Team in an international competition, the European Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She is a visually impaired T12 sprinter (the sports classification in Paralympic athletics where T stands for track and 12 indicates low vision with the possibility of a guide athlete), affected by Stargardt Syndrome.
Until 2023, she was the first to compete with women even though she had male documents. “I am legally a woman, recognized by a ruling from the Bologna court. Since January 16, 2023, I have had my new identity card with sex F and the related rectification of my birth certificate, thereby completing my transition process,” explains Petrillo, who qualified for the Paris Paralympics. Before that, she was considered a woman only in the sports world, becoming the first in the world to apply the guidelines from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) from 2015.
Petrillo’s journey began in 2019, when she decided to start hormone treatment: “In 2018, I announced that I would no longer compete in Fispes as Fabrizio. I did not feel like a man and I was tired of pretending. The following year, I started hormone therapy in the hope of doing sports in the category I really felt I belonged to. I learned about the guidelines and contacted my federation as I fit within the parameters,” she continues.
The desire to return to running and get back in the game led her to learn about the work of Dr. Joanna Harper: “I contacted her myself. She was happy about my journey and how she was looking for high-level female athletes in athletics for her research. The only one who could give me answers. She told me that I would lose speed, and that’s what happened. After six months of treatment, I noticed I was slower. She had warned me about everything. I was monitored, along with Fispes, Fidal, and World Athletics doctors, sending her all my times and filling out new ad hoc forms.”
Harper’s Research
In 2015, Dr. Harper, a former athlete and transgender since 2004, published the first study on the performance of transgender athletes, discovering that athletes receiving pharmacological treatment to lower testosterone levels did not achieve better results in various competitions against their female counterparts compared to what they had done previously against male runners, thus becoming slower. Transgender athletes do not have any advantage because, with therapy, their speed decreases.
Harper’s research specifically concerns running: a discipline for which, in 2019 and then in 2023, World Athletics (formerly IAAF) decided to change the testosterone limit to 5 nmol/L, also aligning it with regulations for intersex or DSD athletes (disorders of sex development), meaning those with anatomical and physiological characteristics belonging to both sexes who are forced to take medication because considered biologically male.
The Evolution of the IOC and Parameters
Until 2003, transgender people did not exist within the competitive sports circuit. The IOC started to open a small door to the transgender world that year, but under very precise and discriminatory conditions: the obligation of sex reassignment surgery, two years of hormone therapy as documentation to prove being a male or female athlete, and legal certification of one’s gender.
From 2003 to 2016, no transgender athlete ever participated in the summer or winter Olympic Games. Only in November 2015 did the IOC make significant changes in collaboration with a medical committee chaired by Dr. Joanna Harper, outlining in new guidelines how it is “necessary to ensure, as much as possible, that transgender athletes are not excluded from the possibility of participating in competitions.”
The obligation for surgery was abolished, requiring MtF (male to female) athletes, biologically born male who identify as women, to demonstrate a testosterone level below 10 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) at least one year before competition. Meanwhile, FtM (female to male) athletes can compete without restrictions. Demonstrating a lower testosterone rate means taking allowed medications.
The matter has raised doubts and controversies, as on one hand it is argued that taking medications may risk the health of transgender athletes, while on the other hand, it is believed that those same medications do not create parity but still maintain an advantage over other cisgender athletes (those whose sexuality and gender identity coincide).
Slower but Happier
“Better to be a slower woman but happy than a faster man but sad” is a phrase that Petrillo coined about herself, full of satisfaction and compromises: “It wasn’t easy to see my speed decrease. After three months, I could no longer run; there was a misalignment between mind and body. Then I saw changes internally, and this gave me the strength to move forward. Now I am happier, and that’s okay.”
It’s okay despite the skepticism that has always followed her: “By competing even with able-bodied athletes, I received complaints. But then they began to get to know me, and I made my experience available to everyone. I believe deeply in sports; I asked myself if it was right, posing a thousand questions, but you can’t always make everyone happy. What surprised me, especially with able-bodied athletes, is that none knew about my vision problems. And mine is a fairly serious illness. Apparently, being transgender outweighs my disability.”
In 2023, her story was told in the docufilm 5 nanomoli, il sogno olimpico di una donna trans, directed by Elisa Mereghetti and Marco Mensa, produced by Etnhos, Gruppo Trans, with the support of Uisp and Arcigay.
Toward Paris
After failing to qualify for Tokyo, Petrillo is headed to Paris: “Sports-wise, I would like to improve my times from Paris last year at the World Championships. It could be my last chance, so I will give my all. The minimum goal is to reach the finals in both the 400m and 200m, and if a medal comes, that would be fantastic.”
Already in 2023, the blue athlete has faced a hate campaign online that led her to withdraw from the indoor Master Athletics World Championships in Poland. “Regarding the non-sporting aspects of Paris, I hope my participation constitutes a moment of reflection for sports, leading us to discuss transgender people more respectfully. I have decided to make my story a public one because I believe in its value. Furthermore, I believe there are many people in my same situation who live in conditions of discomfort and social marginalization,” she concludes.
Transgender people do not gain an advantage, as evidenced by the first transgender athlete to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who did not reach the finals, finishing in last place.