The decision has divided opinion
Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo is set to become the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympic Games.
The 50-year-old sprinter has been selected to represent Italy in the women’s T12 classification for athletes with visual impairments.
Before transitioning in 2019 Petrillo won 11 national titles in the men’s category.
In an interview with BBC Sport, Petrillo said her participation at the Games would be an ‘important symbol of inclusion’.
Last year, she won two bronze medals at World Para Athletics Championships.
She spoke about the effects transitioning had on her as an athlete in a previous interview with BBC saying: “I’m not the energetic person I was. In the first months of transition, I put on 10kg. I can’t eat the way I did before, I became anaemic, my haemoglobin is low, I’m always cold, I don’t have the same physical strength, my sleep isn’t what it was, I have mood swings.”
She also said her times became slower. She said: “As a sportsperson, to accept that you won’t go as fast as before is difficult. I had to accept this compromise, because it is a compromise, for my happiness.”
Mariuccia Quilleri, a lawyer and athlete who has represented a number of fellow athletes who oppose Petrillo’s participation said inclusion had been chosen over fairness.
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons told BBC Sport that while Petrillo is welcome in Paris under World Para Athletics policies, he wants to see the sporting world “unite” on its transgender policies.
In an interview in Paris last week he said: “I do think that the sport movement has to, guided by science, come up with better answers for these situations and for transgender athletes.
“We need to, based on science, have a better and probably a united answer to this population. We need to come up with a valid, solid, sound answer for that population.”
He added that he was prepared for criticism over this decision but urged competitors to respect their decision.
The Paralympic Games run from 28 August to 8 September.
