One person, each day, to help make sense of the Paralympics.
Valentina Petrillo dreamed of becoming an Olympian as a seven-year-old watching fellow Italian sprinter Pietro Mennea win gold in the 200 metres at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She was diagnosed with Stargardt disease – a degenerative eye condition – as a teenager, and will compete in the 200 and 400 metre T12 classification. The 50-year-old will also be the first transgender woman to compete at the Paralympics. World Athletics last year banned transgender women from competing in the female category at international events if they transitioned after puberty. But its para counterpart, World Para Athletics, has not followed suit.
