Transgender sprinter, 51, whose ‘dream’ was to run at the Paralympics since she was a ‘little girl’: Father-of-two Valentina Petrillo accuses critics of ‘jealousy’ after beating rivals almost half her age

The first transgender athlete to run at the Paralympics has said that competing in Paris is the fulfilment of a ‘dream since I was a little girl’.

Visually-impaired Italian Valentina Petrillo, 51, finished second in a heat at the Stade de France this morning but progressed as the sixth fastest runner, in a time of 58.35 seconds.

Petrillo, who won almost a dozen sprint titles as a man before transitioning in 2019 aged 45, finished behind Venezuela’s Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez, 26, who ran a season’s best, but knocked out China’s Shen Yaqin, 33.

The sprinter is the first trans runner to compete at a Paralympics. Petrillo will now run in the semi-finals at the Stade de France in Paris on Monday evening, with the medal race scheduled for Tuesday.

Critics have today accused Petrillo, a biological man who identifies as a woman, of ‘robbing’ other athletes of a place in the semi-finals.

But speaking after this morning’s heats, Valentina said: ‘From today I don’t want to hear anything more about discrimination, prejudices against transgender people.

‘There are lots of people dying only for being trans, people are killed because they are trans, people commit suicide because they are trans and lose their jobs, or (they are) are not included in sport. But I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it’.

Valentina insists that her critics are driven by ‘jealousy’ – and also believes it is ‘better to be a slow happy woman than a fast unhappy man’. 

It is an extraordinary journey for the athlete, who has two grown up children and and until recently was married to their mother.

But making it to the semi-final will cause yet more controversy because Valentina won 11 Italian men’s disabled titles but has been allowed to line up at Paralympics for T12 400m and 200m as a woman.

‘I’m happy as a woman and running as a woman is all I want. I couldn’t ask for more’, the sprinter has said.

‘This was a dream that I had since I was a little girl.

‘I’ve got a fire inside me, that pushes me. An emotional strength. Obviously, my body’s not what it was at 20 when I was at my peak, but my happiness pushes me to go further, to go beyond my limits’.

In a recent interview ahead of the games, Valentina said:’ My son Lorenzo, my ex wife and my brother, are for me the most important things. Family is everything. They are the pillars of my life and they will be with me in Paris.

‘Sadly my father is 83 years old and he can’t be there but I hope to give him a beautiful present.’

While in 2020 Valentina, who was born in Naples, before moving to Bologna more than 30 years ago where she now lives, revealed how she had initially called herself Vanessa after transitioning.

She said: ‘For me Vanessa represented the first part of being a woman. Vanessa would spend hours putting her make up on, she always had to be perfect, she was always taking photos of herself.

‘She needed to be seen as a woman. One day in Milan, speaking to my wife Elena, we decided on a new name.

‘Valentina was different, for example she doesn’t need a wig.’

She also revealed how she would love to get a phone call from Pope Francis and said she would ask him:’ Why do people look at me with a funny look in church ?

‘It’s as if a trans couldn’t cant take Communion or believe in God. Fortunately there are priest with an open mentality, such as the one that takes my confession. I know Pope Francis would understand.’

She added how she had first told her family in 2017 that she was trans gendering and said: ‘My life was at a crossroads, I could no longer deal with what I had inside me.

‘I didn’t choose to be trans, I am trans. It was difficult, I lost all my friends, relationships, everything that I had built up in 44 years of male life.

‘I understood that it was difficult for the outside world to accept me, I was asked ‘How can you be an example of a good father when you dress as a woman ?’

‘I went from some one was a perfect man to something that was not very good.’

She became a woman legally in 2023 and her brother is called Francesco. Her father is Eduardo and she said: ‘It was a difficult job for him but he was the first to call me Valentina. My brother took a little more time.

‘My mother Adriana, died in 2017 before I started my transitioning but she had already twigged everything.’

Valentina was a successful male athlete competing in Italian competitions and between 2016-2018 she won 11 medals.

Describing the moment she told her wife in 2017 – who she only married in 2016 that she wanted to transition – Valentina said:’ My wife was the first person I told.

‘When she wasn’t around I would dress in her clothes, I would put on her lipstick, I would use her make up but I felt awful.’

Wife Elena stuck by him and the two are still friends although she has since gone on to have another child with a new partner, while son Lorenzo is also close.

Valentina said:’ He’s watching all of my changes and is asking a lot of questions but he still calls me daddy, he doesn’t have a male dad like other children but he has a dad who will always be with him.

‘Let’s see how it goes as time passes, because things are evolving, he’s seen his daddy change into a woman but for the time being he seems to be tranquil.’

Born in Naples, Petrillo was a talented runner in school but hopes of being an Olympic runner were hit at the age of 14 after being diagnosed with Stargardt disease – a degenerative eye condition.

After finishing school a move to Bologna at the age of 20 followed to gain a degree in computer science at the Institute for the Blind.

Valentina played for Italy’s national five-a-side football team for people with sight loss.

But running was Petrillo’s true passion, winning title after title as a man.

The sprinter began transitioning at the age of 45.

Two years earlier, in 2017, Petrillo had told her wife that she was transgender and would later start hormone treatment, with her wife supporting her through the process. They remain married and have two children.

Speaking about it last year: ‘I hadn’t planned it. I was in bed with my wife, about to fall asleep, and I said: “Remember I told you once I dressed up as a woman? In reality, it wasn’t once, I do it every day’.

The athlete has previously opened up on trying women’s clothing, trying on one of her mother’s skirts at age nine, describing it as ‘an incredible emotion. It was like touching heaven with your fingertip.’

But she was worried her family would ostracise her and forgot the feeling, continuing life ‘dressing as a man’. 

Petrillo had previously competed in men’s national races before transitioning in 2019. She had won 11 national titles in the men’s T12 category. 

Petrillo says she has learnt to deal with ‘jealousy’ and has ‘nothing to fear’ after concerns about her inclusion were raised by fellow athletes, including rival T12 runner Katrin Mueller-Rottgardt.

‘Honestly, I can’t wait to be in Paris and race on that beautiful purple track and in front of all that enthusiastic crowd,’ Petrillo said ahead of the Paralympic Games. 

‘I think there will be a lot more love for me than I can imagine.

‘It’s only fair that each of us can express ourselves in our own gender. Sport should teach us the value of inclusion and this is fundamental for people’s happiness.’

World Athletics last year banned transgender women from competing in the female category at international events if they transitioned after puberty. But its para counterpart, World Para Athletics, has not followed suit.

‘I have been waiting for this day for three years and in these past three years I have done everything possible to earn it,’ Petrillo told BBC Sport before the Games.

‘I deserve this selection and I want to thank the Italian Paralympic Federation and the Italian Paralympic Committee for having always believed in me, above all as a person as well as an athlete.

‘The historic value of being the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics is an important symbol of inclusion.’

Under Rule 4.5 of World Para Athletics’ rules and regulations, the governing body states that athletes who are legally recognised as a women are eligible to compete in female disciplines.

The regulation adds: ‘World Para Athletics will deal with any cases involving transgender athletes in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s transgender guidelines.’

That policy differs from World Athletics’ stance, however, who banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s events in March 2023, with Lord Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, stating that the decision was take to ensure fairness and ‘protect the female category’.

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president, Andrew Parsons, told BBC Sport that Petrillo would be ‘welcome’ at the upcoming games. But he also hoped that sporting bodies around the world could someday unite on their stance on the participation of transgender athletes.

‘I am prepared for the criticism,’ he said when asked by BBC Sport whether he was ready for any possible criticism he may receive in relation to Petrillo’s inclusion.

Asked whether he was prepared for any possible criticism he may receive in relation to Petrillo’s inclusion he added: ‘I am prepared for the criticism.’

‘But again we need to respect our rules, we cannot disrespect our rules. So sometimes as an individual, I think one way or another, but we need to follow our constitution, we need to follow our own rules and in specific sports, the rules of the international federations need to be respected.

‘So for the moment World Para Athletics rules allow her [Petrillo] to compete, so she will be welcome as any other athlete.

‘I think it is just fair that we treat [transgender athletes] respectfully. But I do think science should give us the answer because we also want to be fair with the other athletes in the field of play. It is a very difficult question. And science hopefully will be able to give us the answer. And what I would like to see in the future is that the whole of sport has a united position on it.’

Petrillo was born with Stargardt disease, a rare degenerative eye condition where tissue develops on the small part of a person’s retina that is used for sharp vision. 

Common symptoms include a gradual loss of eye sight and the illness is believed to be caused by changes in a person’s genes. There is no known cure for the illness.