Valentina Petrillo, the first trans woman admitted to the Paralympics is Italian

Paralympics 2024, the story of Valentina Petrillo: first trans qualified for Paris

There first trans admitted to Paralympics she’s Italian, her name is Valentina Petrillo and is 50 years old. The visually impaired athlete until 41 years old has won medals in athletics in the male categoryto 46 the transition has arrived. Now he is making his dream come true: “I run as a woman in Paris“. Petrillo is the record-breaking athlete, in 2020 she entered the history of the Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships as first transgender woman to compete in the female categorynow the next step: called up for the Paris Paralympics which will start on August 28th.

“When I was little – Petrillo said in an interview with Fanpage – I knew I to have a part inside that could not be expressed. I was afraid of society’s judgement, I had a negative example in my family, due to the behaviour my uncles had towards my cousin, they kicked her out of the house when he did coming out. This is also why I came out late in life, after a thousand thoughts. But at a certain point I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror anymoreto look at my body, to enter male spaces. For me it was violence, it was unbearable. Even before coming out in 2018 I didn’t go to the locker room anymore or I would do somersaults to change, I didn’t want them to see me naked: this was a big input to make me say enough, to make me start living the way I always wanted to“.