After years of setbacks and preparation, Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo took to the starting line on Monday in the women’s T12 400m semi-final at the Paris Paralympics with full force.
She showed tenacity in qualifying matches earlier in the day, putting her in a position to qualify for Tuesday’s final and potentially become the first openly transgender Paralympian to win a medal.
Iranian Hajar Safarzadeh GhaderijaniThe 2024 world champion surged into the lead down the backstretch as Petrillo struggled to maintain the pace.
By the 300m mark, Venezuela’s Alejandra Pérez had surged into second place, and Petrillo was pushing hard but it wasn’t enough. Safarzadeh Ghaderijani had qualified and qualified for the final, where she would face off against Cuban superstar Omara Durand, who was seeking her fourth consecutive Paralympic gold medal in the event.
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Petrillo was just watching from the outside. Her time of 57.58 seconds was both her personal best and an Italian record.
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Immediately after the race, despite her disappointment, her first action was to find her son and give him a hug.
“I’m a little bit down, but I hope my son is proud of me,” she told reporters after the race. “I tried harder than I did this morning and I did my best. They’re stronger than me, so I had to be pretty down to get 56 seconds. If I get 57.50, I have to be a little down and be happy.”
She was reportedly overwhelmed by the emotion and gravity of the moment and abruptly walked out of the interview — a long-awaited, historic moment that was met with disdain in some quarters.
Yes, transphobes like author J.K. Rowling and sports journalists like Oliver Brown of the UK-based Telegraph (one of many UK media outlets that seem to thrive on anti-trans rhetoric) have called her a “phony”, aided by countless social media stooges who share their transphobia.
Based on her T12 400m performance, I simply cannot understand the accusation that Petrillo had an “unfair advantage” over her cisgender competitors. While some transphobes were in hysterics, they missed the fact that a Paralympic legend just won again. Durand won his fourth consecutive gold medal at the Paralympics.He beat current world champion Gadeljani by about two seconds.
Petrillo’s complaints about “advantage” are ridiculous, given Duran’s history: She holds world records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters. She hasn’t lost a world championship since 2011. She skipped the 2024 world championships to prepare for these Paralympics.
Duran is an athlete whose achievements are as great as those of the greatest stars in a country that worships track and field, including Olympic champions. Alberto Juantorena, Anna Fidelia Quirot and Javier SotomayorDuran has more elite hardware than these three legends CombinedHowever, those who say they want to “protect women’s sports” aren’t listening.
But what else is new? Some of these people only follow sports if they can engage in transphobic nonsense.
They fly thousands of miles in airplanes Harassing college athletes from other countriesHe booed high school students at a track and field meet, called a 13-year-old girl a “big girl” while running for office, They support legal discrimination whenever they get the chance.
So are those who attack “unconventional” cisgender women, as they did with Olympic gold medal-winning boxers Imane Kherif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. They are fixated on the idea that transgender women are not women; they seem to be saying that cisgender women are bad at sports. You’ll have a hard time convincing Duran, a champion and national hero, on the latter point.
Petrillo will be back on the track on Friday to compete in the T12 200 meters, a race that will be her hero. Pietro Menea, world record holder and 1980 Olympic champion from Italy;
I had the opportunity to interview Petrillo four years ago, during the height of the global lockdown. With Italy hit hard by the postponement of the Tokyo Paralympics, you could hear in her face and in her voice the determination she had to seize this opportunity, no matter what.
“I dream of this,” she said at the time. “The determination that Menea showed is something that she has taught all of us. When I’m running, I feel the same way. That same determination, that same drive.”
It’s that drive that got her to this moment. Win or lose, she’s made a statement for herself and for so many of us who continue to push forward with our goals while standing up against those who would exclude transgender women from girls’ sports entirely.
Despite the tears of disappointment, she left the course knowing she had left everything she had there.
Her son would be so proud, as would many trans people who follow her, including me.
Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
