Mick Hartley

We've come across Italian trans athlete Valentina (formerly Fabrizio) Petrillo before. He kept on winning well into his forties, undoubtedly helped by the fact that he competes against women. Now he's 49, but still does OK for himself:

Valentina Petrillo, a 49-year-old biological male, has won a women’s 400 metres bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris. The Italian, who was 18 years older than any other competitor in the race, denied Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El-Idrissi a place on the podium in the T12 final for visually impaired athletes.

The medal for Petrillo, the first achieved by a transgender athlete on the global stage in track and field, drew swift condemnation, with Peter Eriksen, Canada’s former Olympic head coach, calling the result “shocking” and Mara Yamauchi, the third fastest female British marathon runner in history, asking: “How many 49-year-olds would win medals at world level?”

El-Edrissi, the opponent beaten into fourth, is 27, while Cuba’s Omara Durand and Alejandra Perez Lopez of Venezuela, the gold and silver medallists, are 31 and 25.

Petrillo’s involvement in international competition has long been the subject of consternation. Having only begun hormone therapy to begin transitioning in 2019, aged 45, Petrillo entered the 100, 200 and 400 metres for women at Italy’s Paralympic championships the following year and immediately won all three races. “Better to be a slow happy woman than a fast unhappy man,” the athlete told the BBC. “I don’t feel like I’m stealing anything from anyone.”

When Petrillo, who is understood not to have undergone gender reassignment surgery, was refused access to the female changing rooms in Ancona, the athlete lashed out at detractors as “being on the same level as Hitler”.

The familiar measured response when trans women face any kind of criticism.

“I’ve not undergone hormone therapy to win, I’ve done it for myself,” said Petrillo, who is married to a woman and has two children.