PARIS, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 02: Valentina Petrillo of Team Italy reacts after failing to qualify in the Women’s 400m T12 semi-final on day five of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games (Photo by Marco Mantovani/Getty Images)
Valentina Petrillo has hit back at JK Rowling and issued a stinging response to being branded an ‘out and out cheat’.
The 51-year-old transgender athlete, a father of two, has caused controversy at the Paralympics by running as a woman.
Petrillo previously competed as a man up until six years ago, and was evescrated by Harry Potter author Rowling after winning a 400 metres heat for visually-impaired female athletes earlier this week.
What has JK Rowling said about Valentina Petrillo?
‘Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo?’ Rowling wrote on X. ‘The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility!
‘Out-and-proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model. I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on.’
After Petrillo reached the semi-finals of the 200m, she was asked for a response and said: ‘I’m flattered that Rowling is talking about me – I’ve never even read Harry Potter. I’m told she wrote it but I didn’t read it.
‘By the way, I was told that she in her own book wrote about a sport where there is no gender. So I was expecting different behaviour from Rowling.’
Valentina Petrillo of Team Italy competes during the Women’s 200m T12 Semi Final on day nine of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for PNZ)
Petrillo subsequently ran a season-best time of 25.92 seconds but failed to qualify for the final.
Ultimately, she finished ninth across the three semi-finals on Friday evening at Stade de France.
Amid the backlash to her participation in Paris, meanwhile, Petrillo claimed: ‘There is so much transphobia in all this.
‘The most important word in Olympic and Paralympic sports is inclusion. We have to find solutions to include everyone, because everyone needs to feel joy in sports, so that’s why we are here. I think that if we want to, we can find a solution.
‘I would like to live in the Paralympic Village all my life because, honestly, I feel protected here.’
Source:: Metro
