An athlete who has won 11 national men’s titles, qualified for 400m women’s semi-final at the age of 51 on Monday, after the sport’s governing body accepted the athlete’s eligibility to compete.
Italian Valentina Petrillo, a father-of-two who was still competing at 45 as a male and claims an entitlement to enter the female category for the sake of ‘happiness’, came second in her heat, in which she beat a Chinese runner who is 18 years younger than her.
Though World Para Athletics (WPA) insist that Petrillo’s testosterone levels, after transitioning, render her fit to race, the athlete had a further advantage over the Venezuelan and Chinese competitors in her heat, for the visually impaired competitors. While the other two runners needed a guide, Pertrillo ran unaided.
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