Valentina Petrillo race this morning?

[Downthemedow]

I’m assuming Channel 4 may not cover it as there is not UK competitor. Any idea where to try and watch it? I’m very curious as to what will happen.

Interesting @Plasmodesmata - I looked up Ingrid van Kranen who sadly died in 2021. Came 9th in the F11 category which is for near-total visual impairment. I don't feel any animosity towards them but just a sadness for what has been done to women's sport. I hope Petrillo's enjoyment of publicity hastens the day that this is sorted out.

This is the most shocking photo I've seen so far - claiming they were 'a little girl'.

Is Italy supporting this person but also calling the boxing match unjust? If so, why/how? How can you support this but vilify someone else for the same action?

And a fair amount of middle-aged spread as well.
Don't think he's been too committed to a training regime.

This seems similar to what happened with Laurel Hubbard - someone who has had some (not much) success competing as a man, gets too old for the men's competition and then "transitions" later in life to compete with women. Doesn't win, as although has male advantage is disadvantaged by being twice the age of the other competitors, but does get publicity and the chance to compete, meaning that somewhere is a woman who did not.

What seems particularly unfair about this situation is that Olympic women track and field athletes have their category protected now, but Paralympic women don't.

Very good point.

British Bullshit Corporation.

It's a bit pink leggings isn't it?

Don’t forget the Italian athlete who lost out on being picked for the squad, so won’t be telling her grandchildren about her Parisian Paralympics experience , or possibly even showing them a medal.

Petrillo has now qualified for the 200m semi-final tonight.

Knocked out of the semi-final and had a little rant about not being allowed in the womens toilets.....

Well thank heavens VP won’t be on the podium. But that won’t mean a lot to whoever lost out on a place as a result.

@Cambiarenome do you have a link to the rant?

So allowed in the women's race but not the bogs? I'm surprised, it's almost as if they know on one occasion....

No consistency there at all.

No, sorry. I was watching it live. (I am in Italy atm).

Oh no,this is so sad;it's ruined my day.

Poor guy.

hardly a suprise that VP lost given his age.

I asked chat gpt to generate the 400m world record by age group for men (by age group) and women (open age category only).

the relevant thing is that: (a) a prime aged man would have been at a huge advantage; and (b) in a sport in which strength or size played a key role, even a much older man might have been competitive, Laura Hubbard style.

Interview with VP in the Times today.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/99e3500b-1479-43cd-ae0f-7ff75ec13e81?shareToken=d68b801c516caa49c8fd21d65f819b6f

Oops, my comment on that Times article was rejected. I'm not sure whether it was "autogynophiliac cliché", "male entitlement" or "fawning interviewer" that failed to meet community standards.

Om surprised by that 'interview' by Tom Kershaw, I thought The Times was a bit more objective than that. It mentions the opposition VP has encountered, but Tom Kershaw lets VP off the hook:
The counterpoint, of course, is that, having gone through male puberty, Petrillo has an inherent advantage over her rivals, regardless of whether she has undergone hormone therapy, and a female-born athlete has lost their own Paralympic dream as a result. And the fact that Spain’s Nagore Folgado Garcia, a World Championship bronze medallist 31 years Petrillo’s junior, missed out on the 200m semi-finals as the fastest loser was amplified by the likes of JK Rowling, who branded Petrillo an “out and proud cheat”. Petrillo responded to that criticism at trackside by saying she has “never read Harry Potter”.

'I've never read Harry Potter' the best response VP can come up with, and Kershaw let him away with it??

“People said [lots of] men would go to compete as women just so they could win, but that has not happened at all. It is just transphobia.”
Any follow-up questions, Mr Kershaw, quoting the many examples of just that happening? Nope.

“better to be a slow, happy woman than a fast, unhappy man”
But you were never that fast as a man, were you VP, and I don't think your fellow athletes would thank you for suggesting that the Para/Olympics exist to make slow women happy.

Quite a few deleted comments now @KohlaParasaurus and I see the usual TRAs have arrived.

Oh no,you must have been untoward about a deluded cheat.

"Better to be a slow, happy woman than a fast, unhappy man.”

I absolutely LOATHE that particular platitude! I have a MtF transgender acquaintance who comes out with that line and it's SO fucking disrespectful to women who do sport and who have the actual lived experience of training and racing with a woman's anatomy, physiology, and socialisation. It's bad enough coming from that person, who IS quite slow and is never going to trouble the female age group parkrun records or anything like that (though I stand with any woman who would object to being shoved down from 87th to 88th placed FV60 at a major marathon because this late-transitioning chap is running as a woman) but it's really offensive coming from VP, who would actually be considered very fast if he were a woman because Paralympians are elite athletes within their categories.

I find his remark about objections to him using the female changing areas typically self centred. “I can’t see” he says, as though that is enough. Well Petrillo might not be able to see, but other athletes can, and maybe they don’t want to have Petrillos dangly scrotum in their eye line when they are mentally preparing for a race.

Agree @KohlaParasaurus. They're not slow. They're a fucking Paralympian! They have got something only a tiny number of disabled women would ever be able to do, and they've taken it because they are male.

“People said [lots of] men would go to compete as women just so they could win, but that has not happened at all. It is just transphobia.”

So? Even if it is just VP doing it, it is still cheating. And unfortunately it is NOT just VP.