Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has accused transgender runner Valentina Petrillo of being a “cheater” in a post on X after she failed to qualify for the women's Paralympic final.
Petrillo finished third in the women's T12 400-meter sprint. The 50-year-old, who began her gender transition in 2019, clocked 58.35 seconds in the first round of qualifying to advance to the semifinals. Petrillo finished second in the unguided qualifying round.
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has accused transgender runner Valentina Petrillo of being a “cheater” in a post on X after she failed to qualify for the women's Paralympic final. (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
Petrillo's qualification to compete in the women's competition at the Paris Paralympics sparked a backlash in the weeks leading up to the games, and she was rebuked by Rowling on Monday.
“Why am I so angry at the inspirational Petrillo? The cheating community has never had so much attention!,” Rowling wrote to X. “Someone who openly publicizes their cheating like Petrillo proves that the days of calling out cheaters are over. What an exemplary person! Give Lance Armstrong his medal back and move on.”
After an X-user challenged Rowling's claims that Petrillo was cheating, the author responded.
“Stereotypes are simplistic, biased, blanket assumptions about demographics that have no bearing on fact,” she writes. “I know that not all trans people cheat, but knowing you have an unfair advantage and taking advantage of it is the very definition of cheating.”
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Petrillo finished third in the women's T12 400-meter sprint. (AP Photo/Jackson Ranger)
The Italian runner was diagnosed with a progressive eye disease called Stargardt's disease as a teenager. Competing as a man, Petrillo won 11 national titles in the men's T12 division between 2015 and 2018 before undergoing a gender transition.
“I began my gender transition in 2019 and in 2020 I raced in the women's division, fulfilling my dream of playing the sport I've always loved,” Petrillo said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I turned 50 before that happened… We all deserve a second choice, a second chance in life.”
World Athletics last year banned transgender athletes who had a sex change after puberty from competing in women's events, but World Para Athletics still allows transgender athletes to participate as long as they declare their gender identity as female for sporting purposes and provide evidence that their testosterone levels were below 10 nanomoles per litre of blood for at least 12 months before their first competition.
Petrillo was initially reported to be the first transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympics, but the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed to the BBC that Dutch transgender athlete Ingrid van Kranen, who competed in the Rio 2016 Games, was the first transgender athlete to do so.
Petrillo's qualification to compete in the women's event at the Paris Paralympics sparked a backlash in the weeks leading up to the games. (Adam Davey/PA Images via Getty Images)
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Petrillo still has a chance to win an Olympic medal in the women's T12 200 meters, with the first round starting on Friday and the final scheduled for Saturday.
Fox News reporter Paulina Deday and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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