The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) is now under scrutiny for allowing the participation of a transgender athlete in the women's category in the 2024 Paris Paralympics for the first time in history.
Transgender Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo, 50, who transitioned to become a woman back in 2018 and started hormone therapy shortly after, has been selected by the Italian Paralympic Committee to compete in two categories – the women's 200-meter and 400-meter sprint competitions. She will run for both under the T12 category, a classification for athletes with visual impairments.
Petrillo began competing as a woman in 2020 at the Italian Para Athletics Championships, marking the first time in the history of global para athletics that a transgender individual was allowed to compete not in a category that matches their biological sex.
Before transitioning, Petrillo had already won 11 national titles in Italian para athletic competitions as a man. (Related: World Athletics bans transgender athletes from competing in female category at international events.)
Petrillo's participation has sparked controversy in the sports community. For instance, Canada's former Olympic head coach, Peter Eriksen, described her participation as "shocking," while Mara Yamauchi, the United Kingdom's third-fastest female marathon runner, questioned the fairness of the sports: "How many 49-year-olds would win medals at world level?"
Even lawyer Fausta Quilleri, who also ran in the over-35s "Master" category in Italian para athletics competitions, petitioned the president of the Italian Athletics Federation and the ministries for Equal Opportunities and Sport in 2021 to exclude Petrillo from women’s races to no avail.
"Her physical superiority is so evident as to make competition unfair," she wrote, noting that the International Olympic Committee's focus on testosterone "makes no sense" when physique also affects athletic performance.
Transgender researcher admits "transwomen athletes really have physical advantages"
Andrew Parsons, the president of the IPC, acknowledged the criticism but stated the importance of adhering to established rules.
"We need to respect our rules, we cannot disrespect our rules," he said. "So sometimes, as an individual, I think one way or another, but we need to follow our constitution, we need to follow our own rules, and, in specific sports, the rules of the international federations need to be respected."
"So for the moment World Para Athletics rules allow her to compete, so she will be welcomed as any other athlete. I think it is just fair that we treat [transgender athletes] respectfully," he continued. "But I do think science should give us the answer, because we also want to be fair with the other athletes in the field of play. It is a very difficult question. And science hopefully will be able to give us the answer. And what I would like to see in the future is that the whole of sport has a united position on it."
But then, Joanna Harper, a trans woman and researcher conducting studies on the specific impact of hormone therapy on trans women athletes at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at the Loughborough University in England, admitted that transwomen athletes do really have physical advantages over women.
"Transgender women are on average taller, bigger and stronger than cisgender women even after hormone therapy, and those are advantages in many sports," she said. Petrillo is participating in these studies.
GenderConfused.com has more stories about transgender athletes.
Watch this episode of "Flyover Conservatives" as hosts David and Stacy Whited are joined by attorney Theresa Lynn Sidebotham in a discussion on how allowing transgender athletes to compete against biological females is disregarding Title IX.
This video is from the Flyover Conservatives channel on Brighteon.com,
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