Tennis great and women’s sport advocate Martina Navratilova has slammed the decision to allow transgender Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo to compete in the women’s category at next week’s Paralympics.
Navratilova called Petrillo a “pathetic cheat” and criticised organisers for allowing her to compete in the women’s 200m and 400m in the T12 blind class.
Petrillo is a pathetic con man. https://t.co/7vaDMmz1Bg
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) August 22, 2024
in Another PostAccording to Fox News, Navratilova said it was “disgusting” to see the Italians “stealing the women’s trophy.”
“Once again, a man’s trophy has gone to a woman. [the] “And the Paralympics. I feel sick,” she wrote.
Petrillo, who has suffered from a progressive eye disease since she was a teenager, competed for years as a man in the T12 division, winning 11 national titles, but now, 50, she claims to have “transitioned” to a woman and wants to win a women’s title as well.
World Athletics has banned men who have had a “sex reassignment” after puberty from competing as women, but World Para Athletics has not joined other federations.
Instead, World Para Athletics uses testosterone levels and transition times as entry criteria.
Petrillo argues that it is perfectly fair for someone to compete as a woman because “just because you’re born a man doesn’t make you stronger than a woman.”
He already won bronze medals in the 200m and 400m at last year’s World Para Athletics Championships.
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