After intense debates involving the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, an intersex athlete who won gold at the Paris Olympics, also surpassing the Italian Angela Carini, Italy will have the first transgender athlete to compete in the Paris Paralympics.
Valentina Petrillo, 50 years old, will compete in the T12 class, aimed at athletes with visual impairments, in the 200 and 400 meter events. It was these same distances that earned him two bronze medals at the 2023 Paralympic World Championships, also held in Paris.
Born in Naples, Petrillo began to stand out on the Paralympic sports scene in 2020, when she broke paradigms by competing for the first time in the women's category at the Italian Paralympic athletics championships.
His journey was portrayed in the documentary “5 Nanomoli – A Trans Woman’s Olympic Dream,” which explores Petrillo’s challenges and quest for acceptance and inclusion in the world of sport.
From a young age, Petrillo demonstrated a great passion for sport and the dream of representing the Italian national team. However, at the age of 14, his life changed drastically after his diagnosis of Stargardt, a degenerative disease that caused visual impairment. Despite having to abandon the track, she continued to be involved in the sport, playing as goalkeeper for the Italian five-a-side football team for the blind.
Raised and identified as a boy throughout her childhood, Valentina faced discomfort with her gender identity for a long time. In 2019, at age 45, she publicly assumed her identity as a transgender woman and began her transition.
Since then, he has returned to the world of competition, winning 11 national titles in the men's category before start competing in the women's category.
