Valentina Petrillo
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 2 October 1973 Naples, Italy | ||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Italy | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paralympic athletics | ||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T12 | ||||||||||||||
Event | Sprint with sighted guide | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Paralympic finals | 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Valentina Petrillo (Italian: [valenˈtiːna peˈtrillo]; born 2 October 1973)[1] is an Italian Paralympic athlete who competes in the women's 100, 200 and 400 metre T12 class visually impaired sprint.[2][3][4]
Petrillo has been the first trans woman to take part in an international Paralympic Women's Championship, debuting at the Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships, a milestone for transgender people in sports.[3][2][5][6][7][8]
Athletics career
Valentina Petrillo was born in Naples, Italy, on 2 October 1973. She started practising athletics at a young age until a loss of sight at age 14, due to Stargardt disease.[3] Soon after finishing studies in Bologna, Petrillo joined the Italy national five-a-side football team for the visually impaired.[3]
In 2014, Petrillo was determined to get back into athletics, winning 11 national titles in the men's category.[3][2]
In 2019, she started a gender transitioning process;[2][9] Petrillo competed for the first time in the women's category at the Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships on 11 September 2020, marking the first time in paralympic sports that a transgender person was allowed to do so.[3][2][5][6][7][8][9] Petrillo has noted she has lost strength since starting feminizing hormone replacement therapy, which is intended to suppress testosterone and raise estrogen levels in the body.[3] Petrillo has met the World Para Athletics requirements for lowered testosterone levels for transgender women athletes which are tested for at least 12 months prior to the competition.[10]
Petrillo's story will be narrated through a movie, currently in development, named 5 nanomoli-Il sogno olimpico di una donna trans.[3][8]
In 2020, she started officially competing in the women's category,[3][2][5][6][7][9] and on 25 April 2021, set a new national record on the 400 meters T13 class, then improved in June of the same year.[9][11][12]
On 22 March 2021, she set another new record, this time in 200 meters T12.[13] Petrillo represented Italy at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, ranking 5th.[11][14][15]
In March 2023, Petrillo withdrew from competing in the World Masters Indoor Athletic Championships on account of anti-trans threats and concerns for her safety.[16]
On 2 September 2024, Petrillo debuted at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, qualifying for the semi-finals of the T12 women's 400 metres.[17] She achieved a personal best time of 57.58 seconds in the second semi-final, but failed to reach the final of the event.[18] Petrillo also qualified for the semi-finals of the T12 women's 200 metres on 6 September. She finished ninth with a season's-best time of 25.92 seconds, but failed to advance to the final.[19]