The pictures show Valentina Petrillo, then called Fabrizio, with a receding hairline and a tight smile posing for the camera, often cladded in athletic gear.
Transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo has shared astonishing photos from before she transitioned as she gears up to compete in the Paralympics tonight.
The visually impaired runner, 51, also shared her wedding photo with now ex-wife Elena in her exclusive interview with MailOnline ahead of her 200-metre semi-final tonight. Valentina Petrillo of Italy in action in Women's 400m - T12 Semi-Finals during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Stade de France on September 2, 2024
'In the end when I told her, she thought it was a phase at first, she thought it was something I would grow out of and that had started with the death of my mother but eventually she realised it wasn't. Petrillo, who also has a nine-year-old son, also insisted she was sending a message of 'support and hope to other transgender people' by competing.
Petrillo, who failed to make the cut for the 400m after being knocked out in the semi-finals on Monday, is competing at the Paralympics through an eye disorder called Stargardt Syndrome, which she developed growing up 'I couldn't do anything about it, I had a cousin who came out as trans when I was younger and his father kicked him out of the house, I didn't want that to happen to me I because I knew it would have a negative effect on me.
Under World Para Athletics rules, a person who is legally recognised as a woman is eligible to compete in the category their impairment qualifies them for. The decision to include Petrillo in the Paralympics sparked international fury. Valentina Petrillo of Italy poses after competing in 100m T12 during the Italian Paralympic Athletics at Stadio Armando Picchi on September 11, 2020 in Jesolo, Italy
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