An emotionally overwhelmed Valentina Petrillo, the Italian transgender sprinter whose participation in the Paralympic Games has caused a storm of controversy, said: “I hope my son will be proud of me,” after she failed to reach the final of the women’s T12 400m on Monday night.
Petrillo finished third in her semi-final, with only the top two going through to the final to face the might of Cuba’s Omara Durand. The 51‑year‑old Italian said her opponents had in the end been “stronger than me” but said she was proud of her achievements as she cut short her post‑race press conference after being overwhelmed by tears.
“I tried my best until the end, I didn’t make it, I missed the last straight,” Petrillo said.
“I pushed more than I did this morning and I tried my best. They are stronger than me, I had to go down too much, to do a 56 [seconds]. With 57.50, I have to be happy even if I’m a little down.
“I’m a little down, but I hope my son will be proud of me. This is important to me because he has a trans dad, not the dad that everyone dreams of. But I hope he will be proud of me.”
Petrillo competes in the T12 category for visually impaired athletes. She developed stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition, as a child. She also underwent a gender transition in midlife after a successful career as a male para‑athlete and has been the subject of scrutiny and challenge from female para-athletes. In 2021 a petition was submitted to the Italian athletics federation by more than 30 athletes calling for her to be removed from female competition.
Rules established by the World Para Athletics association, however, allow for transgender athletes to compete in women’s competition if they are “recognised as female in law”. This is an approach contrary to that set by World Athletics, which determines criteria for entry into the Olympics. Lord Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics president, has said that policy was arrived at in order to “maintain fairness for female athletes above all other consideration”.
After qualifying from the first‑round heats earlier in the day, Petrillo had described her performance as “the realisation of history”.
She said: “We are here today, on September 2nd, 2024. Let’s mark this down as a historic day. From this day forth I don’t want to hear any more talk about discrimination or prejudice for trans people. Now I’ve made it, so we can all make it if I’ve made it. I’ve done my little bit and we can all make it.”
Petrillo is now poised to race again in the T12 200m heats, an event scheduled to take place on Friday morning.