Valentina Petrillo shouldn't be allowed to compete in the women's race

[AhBiscuits]

Valentina Petrillo only started transitioning 5 years ago and previously competed as a man. How can that be fair? I appreciate that she did not make the final, but she's taken the place of a woman who has worked her arse off, but couldn't surpass Valentina's natural advantage.

@RichardMarxisinnocent you are right. It's the IPC it was the IOC nobheads who enabled Khelif to box against women.

I agree that, whilst he's operating under the rules, that the rules are perverse and wrong. Technically, he's not cheating, but morally, he most certainly is. He's been enabled by the Paralympics authorities and in my opinion, they know exactly that it's wrong.

The fact that they have him his own toilet and changing space is proof to me. They knew perfectly well that the women would object, were he to change with them and why it would reflect badly on them.

Despite that, they chose to exclude an eligible female athlete, in order to pander to what is laughingly termed "inclusion."

They are two separate organisations, and there is no more expectation for the IPC to to "take their lead" from the IOC than there is for the IOC to take their lead from the IPC. They do however have a co-operation agreement which you can read about here https://www.paralympic.org/news/ioc-and-ipc-agree-principles-new-agreement-through-2032 so I imagine they might discuss issues affecting both organisations, which might include this.

However none of this about matters, because the fact that this wouldn't be allowed in athletics in the Olympics isn't due to IOC policies, it's due to the policies of World Athletics. In the interview with Andrew Parsons, President of the IPC, which was shown when Tanni Grey-Thompson and Libby Clegg were discussing Petrillo, he was clear that it is the rules of World Para Athletics (and other sports' governing bodies) which mean it is allowed in the Paralympics.

I really wish WPA would implement the same rules as WA have done about this, but there isn't any expectation that they should.

Some further info about the rules. The IPC and IOC do both have a policy of allowing each sport's governing body to make their own rules.

What are the rules for trans athletes at the Paralympics?
In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) devolved responsibility to each international sport federation to make their own policies. The IPC reiterated this when contacted by The Athletic. That means there is no one rule for all sports regarding transgender inclusion.

What are the rules for trans athletes in para-athletics?
World Athletics has a different policy from World Para Athletics (WPA). Transgender women are not allowed to compete in World Athletics female categories, but they are allowed to compete in World Para Athletics female categories. If Petrillo attempted to compete in the Olympics or other non-disabled international athletics competitions, she would not be allowed.

Under rule 4.5, World Para Athletics states a person who is legally recognised as a woman is eligible to compete in female categories.
The WPA added “transgender athletes must provide evidence that their total testosterone level has been below 10 nanomoles per litre of blood for at least 12 months prior to their first female competition, and for as long as they remain competing in female competition”.

Oh that is interesting about the male testosterone being below 10 nanomoles.

What is the threshold for a biological woman's testosterone? And at what point if that threshold is breached is a biological woman banned for doping / cheating?

(hint- it's a fuckton less than 10 nanomoles).

Oh that is interesting about the male testosterone being below 10 nanomoles.

What is the threshold for a biological woman's testosterone? And at what point if that threshold is breached is a biological woman banned for doping / cheating?

(hint- it's a fuckton less than 10 nanomoles).

I've been an athletics fan since the 1980s, I am aware that 10 nmol/L is a ridiculously high level to allow.

I believe the below is how doping with testosterone is currently tested for:

"The current approach for testing for steroids involves comparing a ratio of testosterone (T) and epitestosterone (E), both produced naturally in the body to determine if athletes have been doping. Epitestosterone is a testosterone isomer (that is it has the same formula but a different arrangement of atoms in the molecule and different properties to testosterone). Since the body produces roughly equal amounts of T and E naturally, most people have a ratio of one-to-one. Still, there is some natural variation, which is the reason WADA allows the testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio to reach up to four-to-one for Olympic athletes. A laboratory result of >4:1 T/E ratio implies doping."

So as far as I know it's not quite as simple as just measuring the testosterone level.

Yep interestingly in the case of boxing it was the IOC, because the IBA, the boxing governing body, had been suspended.

Lots of names and contact details here if anyone wants to complain about World Para Athletics rules on this www.paralympic.org/athletics/contacts

Perhaps you will find this graph below useful. It is a chart using data from a paper written by David Handelman, Uni of Sydney and gives the testosterone ranges for female people versus male people. The person who created the chart added two lines. One for 10 nmol/L for when Hubbard was allowed to compete and one for 5 nmol/L which was when Semenya went to CAS to fight against having to suppress to this level (or at all).

It has been stated that if a female person has testosterone levels above around 5.1 nmol/L they would be very ill, usually suspected of having a tumour. The green section is actually yellow in the colour key.

At the CAS hearing, it was in the witness statements that Semenya had testosterone levels of around 21 nmol/L if that helps.

None of those cases have anything to do with Petrillo, though. He's a bog-standard male fetishist (stealing his sister's underwear, etc) who's married, fathered children, raced in the correct category, and now decides he's going to impose his fetish on unwilling women athletes, cheating women out of opportunities. He knows he's male, just as the IOC does. That's why he, and they, do this. It's not some faux-innocent confusion about who's a man and who's a woman. It's entirely deliberate.