Mick Hartley

The cynicism of this is breath-taking:

On September 11 and 12, 2020, Valentina Petrillo won gold in the women’s 100-, 200- and 400-metre competitions at the Italian Paralympic Athletics Championships. Petrillo, who is listed as male on identification documents, became the first male athlete to compete against women in Paralympic events. Up until identifying as a woman in 2019, Petrillo competed as a man, and won 11 national men’s titles between 2016 and 2018. 

So a top-level male athlete isn't winning any more, but when he decides to identify as a woman – hey, he's back to his winning ways. Easy!

In 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued guidelines that allow any males to compete in women’s races if they keep their testosterone levels at a maximum of 10 nanomoles per litre for 12 months prior to competing and during competition – which is significantly higher than the testosterone levels of most women (typically between 1.12 to 1.79 nmol/L). The Italian Federation for Paralympic and Experimental Sport (FISPES) has adopted these IOC guidelines.

The testosterone level criterion is absurd. Post-adolescent male athletes have already built up a huge advantage over women in muscle density, bone strength and lung capacity, irrespective of testosterone levels. It's a joke. But he can get away with it because of these ridiculous IOC guidelines – so he does.

Competing as a woman in the Tokyo Paralympics is the next goal, which Petrillo feels is completely fair, due to now being 1.5 seconds slower in the 200 metres compared to pre-transition. Petrillo states: "We all have the right to be happy. And if I made it everyone can. I’d like to be talked about for my sporting results rather than for who I am. I hope to win the race, shake hands with the other girls on the podium and receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers."

We all have the right to be happy – apart from women, obviously. We men all have the right to be happy.