Valentina Petrillo, the “childhood dream” of the primary transgender athlete to take part within the Paralympic Games | EUROtoday
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LMonday, September 2, 2024. On this date, Valentina Petrillo entered the historical past of Paralympism, and even of sport. This 50-year-old Italian grew to become the primary transgender sprinter to take part within the Paris Games. In the 400 meters T12, visually impaired class, the athlete achieved her greatest time in 57 seconds 58 hundredths… with out managing to achieve the ultimate.
Regardless, the runner instructed AFP that that day was “the most important moment of [sa] sporting career”, thus fulfilling his “childhood dream”. And he nonetheless has an opportunity to shine by collaborating, on Friday, within the 200 meters T12 occasion.
“I didn't feel like myself”
At the time of her race, the Italian had one other date in thoughts: July 28, 1980. On that day, throughout the Moscow Olympic Games, Pietro Mennea – who died 10 years in the past – set off and surpassed all his opponents. In the 200 meters, the sprinter received the gold medal. After such a efficiency, the Italian dodged the Russian safety service and commenced his lap of the monitor – banned that 12 months – brandishing his index finger to the sky. The “finger of God,” he known as it on the time.
A 12 months earlier, on the Summer Universiade in Mexico, the identical champion had damaged the world file by ending his race in 19 seconds and 72 hundredths, a efficiency that had not stood for seventeen years, earlier than the American Michael Johnson lastly beat it. Faced with such a champion, how might one not be proud to be Italian?
Perhaps that’s what Valentina Petrillo felt, citing her compatriot as her inspiration. “I said I wanted to be like him,” Petrillo recalled to Euronews. “I wanted to wear the blue jersey, I wanted to go to the Olympics. But I wanted to do it as a woman because I didn’t feel like a man, I didn’t feel like myself.”
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Although Valentina Petrillo is now separated from her partner, their relationship remains “good”. The latter also supports her at the Stade de France in Paris with her son. The first transgender athlete to participate in the Paralympic Games, she explains that she is aware of the criticism that will be reserved for her, particularly in her country, led by the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni.
Last year, during the world championships, the Spanish Melani Berges had already denounced the “injustice” surrounding the qualification of Valentina Petrillo for the Paralympics, questioning the participation of trans people in sports competitions.
Faced with these remarks, the para-athlete says she hopes to have paved the way and to be “the primary of many others.” “I fought for years to get right here,” she explains. “I'm not afraid. I’m me.”
https://www.lepoint.fr/sport/valentina-petrillo-le-reve-d-enfant-de-la-premiere-athlete-transgenre-a-participer-aux-jeux-paralympiques-06-09-2024-2569546_26.php