For Valentina Petrillo, competing in the 2024 Paris Paralympics is monumental on multiple counts.
First, there’s the fact that the Italian track athlete initially drew inspiration for this feat over four decades ago: During the 1980 Moscow Olympics, young Petrillo watched on TV as the Italian sprinter Pietro Mennea clinch gold in the 200 meters, surging from behind in the final seconds to win the race, as she told Out Sports in 2020. That moment stuck with Petrillo, who is now 50, and has served as motivation for her to chase her own big athletic goals on the track.
Then, there’s the history-making component to Petrillo’s participation in Paris. By lacing up at the 2024 Games, Petrillo will become the first openly trans athlete to take part in the global competition, according to Reuters. She’ll compete in the women’s T12 classification, which is for athletes with visual impairments, in both the 200 and 400-meter races, BBC Sport reported. Before those events kick off—round one for the 400 meters is on September 2, and the 200 starts on September 6—read on for everything you need to know about the trailblazing runner.
1. Though she narrowly missed the 2020 Tokyo Games, Petrillo’s no stranger to big-time competition.
The 2024 Paris Games mark Petrillo’s Paralympic debut after she barely missed qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“I still find it hard to believe it and I’m keeping my feet on the ground because my chance to participate in Tokyo was missed by a whisker,” Petrillo said, per The Guardian. That said, Paris isn’t her first time participating in a high-stakes competition—not by any stretch. In her international debut in the T12 classification (previously she competed in T13), she placed fifth at the 2021 European Para Athletic Championships in Poland, according to Out Sports. Then at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, the decorated sprinter earned bronze in both the 200 and 400 meters.
2. She studied computer science.
Petrillo’s interests span beyond the track. According to Sportskeeda, she studied computer science at the Istituto dei ciechi Francesco Cavazza, a school for the blind in Bologna, and had a career as a computer programmer, per Out Sports.
3. Running isn’t her only sport of choice.
The track may be where Petrillo currently dominates, but she’s dabbled in other forms of fitness over the years, too. After a rocky intro to athletics as a teen—she was turned away from her local sports club at age 14, recalling to Out Sports that she didn’t have the right shoes and was told she “was not fit to be in athletics”—she later joined another one in her early 20s. Petrillo also played futsal for Italy’s national team in the visually challenged division, according to Sportskeeda. In case you aren’t familiar, futsal is a riff on indoor soccer, played with five athletes per team and a ball that’s smaller, harder, and less bouncy than a soccer ball.
4. Her favorite event is the 200 meters.
Though Petrillo will be racing both the 200 and 400 meters in Paris, her favorite is the former, and that’s all thanks to that impressionable 1980 Olympic event. “I play that race over and over again,” she told Out Sports in 2020. “It gives me that same feeling of motivation and excitement.”
5. Petrillo has stargardt disease, which caused her vision loss.
According to the BBC, Petrillo was diagnosed with the genetic condition when she was just 14 years old. Stargardt disease is rare—fewer than 200,000 people in the US have it—and it causes progressive vision loss, which often begins in childhood. People with stargardt disease most commonly experience a slow loss of central vision in both eyes, though they can also see hazy or black spots as well as become more sensitive to light. “Yes, I have problems with my vision, I’m partially sighted, I’m trans—and let’s say that’s not the best in our Italy, being trans—but I am a happy person,” she told the Associated Press in August.
6. She hopes to inspire other transgender athletes.
Petrillo’s road to competing in the women’s track events hasn’t been easy, as she’s faced criticisms from governing sports bodies and fellow athletes.
But nevertheless, Petrillo kept pushing toward her goal. The World Para Athletics’ rules state that anyone legally recognized as a woman can compete in the category their impairment qualifies them for, BBC Sport reports.
By competing authentically, Petrillo hopes to inspire other people, especially transgender Italians, the same way Mennea inspired her all those years ago, she told Out Sports. “I’m dreaming about this,” she said, according to the outlet. “The determination that Mennea showed was something he taught all of us. That is how I feel when I am running. That same determination and that same drive.”
Now in the lead up to Paris 2024, Petrillo’s Paralympic debut will be an “important symbol of inclusion,” she told BBC Sport.
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