Valentina Petrillo, a transgender athlete, placed third in her semi-final and was not able to advance to the T12 400m final at the Paralympics in Paris.
The 51-year-old Italian sprinter participated in the women’s T12 category, which is for athletes who are blind or visually impaired. She qualified for the semi-finals after finishing second in her heat with a performance record of 58.35 seconds, 1.38 seconds behind Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez of Venezuela.
In her semi-final, she set a personal best time of 57.58, but still came in second to Perez Lopez. Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani won in 56.07. Petrillo had qualified sixth fastest for the semi-finals, 2.99 seconds behind the world record-holding Omara Durand of Cuba, who was the top qualifier.
No more discrimination
Pertillo, who transitioned to being a transgender in 2019, stated that her participation in the Paris Games would be a symbol of inclusion. The athlete declared: “From today I don’t want to hear anything more about discrimination, prejudices against transgender people.”
Currently, there isn’t yet an agreement in sport on the inclusion of transgender people. However, international sports governing bodies are free to establish their own rules, thanks to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
While Petrillo would be welcome in Paris under the existing World Para Athletics standards, IPC president Andrew Parsons admitted that he wants to see the athletic community be one on its transgender policies.
Petrillo was reportedly the first athlete to compete in the Paralympics who was openly transgender.
The Dutch transgender athlete Ingrid van Kranen, who passed away in 2021, placed ninth in the women’s discus final in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Source: BBC