24 Italian female athletes take legal action against male athletes in their sports.

[PandorasMailbox]

Lawyer and Italian athletics champion Mariuccia Fausta Quilleri is representing 24 female athletes who have signed a petition calling for male-born transgender athletes to be admitted to women’s competitions exclusively out of competition.

feministpost.it/magazine/english/24-italian-female-athletes-take-legal-action-against-male-ultra-athletes-in-their-sports/

@FannyCann - I agree it's a worry! Well done to these women for standing up for women's sport.

The translation confused me too until I read the rest of the article.

My hope is that other female athletes will take a stand and refuse to compete against men. If men take women's medals, the Olympics will be a complete and total farce, making a mockery of the idea of fair play.

Good, hoping that this will help to get things changed. If ti was just one or two athletes, then I think the sportrs governing bodies would take action against them, but not twenty four.
Fantastic news.

Googled Valentina and (s)he's 47! How many female athletes are able to compete at that age? So unfair. Good luck to these women, I hope it starts to turn the tide.

It was in the Daily Mail earlier (can't find it now) complete with picture, more sunlight.

@FannyCann

I thought it must mean that too *@JoodyBlue*

The last paragraph is a worry as well - proof surely that women just need to train harder....It won't be long before someone adds that to their list of gotchas.

"Sanulli and Neumann continued to train and race, and at the Italian indoor championships in Ancona in March 2021 they had a chance for a rematch. In the 200m indoor race Cristina Sanulli still managed, despite her shorter stature and female body, to beat Petrillo in speed and came first, and Valentina second, despite having all the technical advantages provided by a body that has experienced male puberty: the longer stride, bigger heart, feet and lungs, higher maximum oxygen consumption per muscle contraction (VO2max), stronger tendons, and much more."

I thought the last bit was a worry too.

An elite sportswoman at the height of her career (age, fitness levels, training etc) manages to beat a 47 year old mediocre male, and that will be hailed by many as "see, a woman beat a transwomen, therefore all transwomen should be allowed to compete against women in all situations".

Well done to the athletes, let hope other women in competitive sport follow their example.

Does anyone know what happened with this? (Also, are trans athletes now being called "male ultra athletes"?

It seems the authorities have just ignored it so far. Don’t know if there’s a legal route they are or could take.

Most recent thing I could find - www-larazon-es.translate.goog/deportes/juegos-olimpicos/20210823/pjy2tnjlwfb2hdup5ofmprmcr4.html?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui,sc

Which seems to say several more athletes signed the petition and they got the support of the feminist party in Spain.

This needs to be addressed and fast. Shocking that women's spaces been invaded. That photo of the winner says it all. I watch ufc every weekend with my son and love it. Used to think it was all about violence but am addicted now and it has changed and you need to be good at so many martial arts. Shocked me to see men competing against women. But a lot of the fighters did speak out. This has to change as even though these male fighters identify as female they are so much stronger, broader, and not right that they expect to compete against women. Am sick of it now, remember that African runner that kept winning everything, looked so big and strong. Why don't they have a new thing that only transgender males compete against each other and give them their own loos. I really don't give a damn if someone identifies as male/female but not fair in sport or in women's safe places.

It’s utterly ridiculous. We are at a turning point at the moment and we dinosaurs need to roar.

IrishMel

There are half a dozen (at least) African runners who have the same 46 XY DSD condition, which means that they have gone through a male puberty. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi holds every women's national record from 400m to 10,000m. I don't know of any other athlete who has ever achieved that feat.

Very unlikely, given Covid, that this has gone to the courts. The Italian courts are working flat out at the minute to clear the backlog of cases delayed by the various lockdowns.
Think a political decision was made by not naming Petrillo in the Paralympic women's team, however, can't find anything on it.

@andyoldlabour

IrishMel

There are half a dozen (at least) African runners who have the same 46 XY DSD condition, which means that they have gone through a male puberty. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi holds every women's national record from 400m to 10,000m. I don't know of any other athlete who has ever achieved that feat.

This is so, so unfair.

Yes, I feel sorry for people with DSDs, who presumably will feel hard done by if they are no longer allowed to win (they could still compete, of course, just as men). But it is fundamentally not right that women should just step aside and give up all the podium places. Because that is what will happen, inexorably, inevitably, especially because big money is involved at elite levels.
Just waiting for something similar to happen in tennis or golf, where there's astronomical amounts of money at stake. The attraction to some middling men to declare oneself a women and then shoot up hundreds of world ranking places must be enormous.

PhiRhoSigma

In the cases concerning athletes with a DSD, I suspect it is far more complex than the athletes cheating. I now suspect that coaches and national sports bodies are actively seeking out these people, in the knowledge that this is an easy route to medals and glory. The case of Christine Mboma is a prime example of someone who has hardly any international athletics experience, yet is breaking age related records and beating the best in the World.
Both the following athletes have the same DSD and both share the same coach, how about that for a coincidence?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Mboma

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Masilingi

334bu

The following is a really interesting article about Petrillo, although it doesn't explain why they didn't run at Tokyo. It did however suggest that runners up to Petrillo at the 2020 Masters were coerced to share the podium with Petrillo.

feministpost.it/magazine/english/too-fast-too-tall-too-strong-an-analysis-of-petrillos-performance-in-the-mens-and-then-in-the-womens-category-olympics/

@andyoldlabour

IrishMel

There are half a dozen (at least) African runners who have the same 46 XY DSD condition, which means that they have gone through a male puberty. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi holds every women's national record from 400m to 10,000m. I don't know of any other athlete who has ever achieved that feat.

That's insane. These distances require very different types of physique normally. Otherwise Usain Bolt would just win the Olympic gold at marathon now he is finished as a sprinter.

@JoodyBlue

I'm not quite getting the "exclusively out of competition" grammar. What do you all think it means? That TW can participate but not compete?

"Lawyer and Italian athletics champion Mariuccia Fausta Quilleri is representing 24 female athletes who have signed a petition calling for male-born transgender athletes to be admitted to women’s competitions exclusively out of competition".

*Out of competition is a bit of a dodgy translation of the original "fuori concorso" and I think it's supposed to to mean they should be allowed to compete but can't win anything. "Hors concours" is apparently the equivalent phrase in English (ignoring the fact that it's French ).

Abhannmor

All three medallists at the 2016 Rio Olympics, womens 800m, had the same 46 XY DSD - Semenya, Niyonsaba, Wambui.
At the 2017 World Championships, Niyonsaba once again won silver behind Semenya. This year, Niyonsaba broke the World record for 2000, as well as setting national records at 5000m and 10000m.
The comments on the Youtube video show that a lot of people are waking up to what is happening.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francine_Niyonsaba

www.africanews.com/2021/09/22/2-000m-world-record-holder-francine-niyonsaba-receives-heroic-welcome

It makes me so angry that young women are being cheated out of the opportunity of succeeding in their chosen sport. It must make them wonder why they bother trying... It's so obviously unfair I can't understand why people can keep insisting it isn't.
But poor oppressed TWs, boo hoo... :(

ArtemesiaK

I think that most people do see this as very wrong, but we are ordinary people and not part of the decision making process. We know from recent reports that athletes past and present are being intimidated to keep quiet.
This is cheating in plain sight being enabled by the authorities.

Tank you for this! I have very good Italian and this article has spurred on to volunteer for them translating articles.