Have a look at the bio, age, height and disability of Valentina Petrillo
The first transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo to compete in the World Para Athletics Grand Prix and now the 2024 Paralympics is Valentina Petrillo.
At the Italian Paralympic Championship, the visually impaired athlete Valentina Petrillo made her debut by taking part in the T12 100, 200, and 400m sprints.
Who is Valentina Petrillo first transgender athlete to compete at the Paralympics, bio, age, height, wife, disability and Instagram
50-year-old Valentina Petrillo, who was born in Naples on October 2, 1973, began participating in sports at an early age and lost his sight at the age of 14 after being diagnosed with Stargardt disease. Petrillo is 6ft tall.
Petrillo was diagnosed as a teenager with Stargardt disease, a degenerative eye condition and will compete under the T12 classification at the Paralympics 2024.
She spent the most of her life as a man. In 2017, she told her wife with whom she has a sonthat she was transgender. Two years later, she began hormone therapy as she began her transition.
Valentina said, โI wanted to put on the blue (Italy) shirt, I wanted to go to the Olympics. Butย and there was a but, I wanted to do it as a woman because I didnโt feel like a man, I didnโt feel like myself.โ
Valentina Petrillo career
Valentina Petrillo joined the Italian national futsal squad for the visually impaired not long after completing her studies in Bologna. Petrillo was resolved to return to athletics at the age of forty-one and won eleven men’s national titles.
She began the process of changing her gender in 2019. On September 11, 2020, Petrillo participated in the women’s division at the Italian Para Athletics Championships, becoming the first transgender person to be permitted to compete in paralympic sports. A documentary titled “5 Nanomoles: The Olympic Dream of a Trans Woman” tells Petrillo’s story.
She participated in the women’s division in 2020 and, on April 25, 2021, broke the 400-meter T13 class national record. In June of the same year, she made even more progress. She broke yet another record on March 22, 2021, this time in the 200-meter T12.
Petrillo got placed fifth while competing for Italy in the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships.
The women’s T12 400m and 200m finals at the Paralympics are scheduled for September 3 and 7, respectively, with the heats held the day before.
Whatever happens, when she takes to the track at the Stade de France, she claims that she has already conquered her greatest struggle.