TRANSGENDER athlete Valentina Petrillo has shared photos of before her transition as she prepares to compete in the Paralympics tonight.
The Italian, 51 – who competed as man until seven years ago – has also revealed her ex-wife gave her make-up tips.
The snaps show visually impaired Petrillo, then called Fabrizio, with a receding hairline in a far cry from her long blonde locks she now sports.
The athlete sparked fury in her native country, as well as from the likes of Harry Potter writer JK Rowling, who labelled her an “out and proud cheat”.
The defiant sprinter said: “I’m not bothered what JK Rowling or anyone else says, I’m just here for myself and my family.
“There’s a lot of transphobia out there and I’m here only to compete and ignoring that outside noise.”
Petrillo – who is taking part in the 200m semi-final on Friday evening – also shared her wedding photo with now ex-wife Elena from 2016.
She came out as transgender the following year and then started transitioning in 2019.
The couple share nine-year-old son Lorenzo.
Petrillo told the MailOnline: “We would go out shopping together for women’s clothes and she would put my makeup on, in the end we divorced but we still live together in Bologna, we are still a family and Lorenzo calls me daddy.”
The athlete revealed she first met Elena at a McDonald’s 20 years ago, adding: “It was love at first sight for both of us.”
She continued: “I was still fighting what was inside me and when Elena would go out I would wear her clothes, I would put on her nail varnish and her lipstick and makeup, she had no idea.”
Petrillo said when she first told Elena her ex-wife thought it was “a phase at first” brought on by the death of her mother – but eventually realised it wasn’t.
VALENTINA PETRILLO has become the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games – and has reached the semi-final of the semi-finals of the T12 400m.
The Italian sprinter, 51, said she wants to be the “first of many” having debuted at the Games in Paris.
Born in Naples on October 2, 1973, Petrillo started taking part in athletics at a young age.
However, she began losing her sight at the age of 14, as a result of being diagnosed with Stargardt disease.
Stargardt disease is a rare, inherited genetic eye condition that causes a gradual loss of vision.
After finishing her studies in Bologna, she joined Italy’s national futsal team for the visually impaired.
Determined to get back into athletics, she returned to sports at the age of 41, winning 11 national titles in the men’s sprinting category.
In 2019, she decided to transition.
Speaking to the BBC about the consequences of her decision, she said: “My metabolism has changed.
“I’m not the energetic person I was. In the first months of transition, I put on 10kg.”
She continued: “I can’t eat the way I did before, I became anaemic, my haemoglobin is low, I’m always cold, I don’t have the same physical strength, my sleep isn’t what it was, I have mood swings.
“I’m not the same as before.”
She said her times became slower too, adding: “As a sportsperson, to accept that you won’t go as fast as before is difficult.
“I had to accept this compromise, because it is a compromise for my happiness.”
The sports star competed for the first time in the women’s category at the Italian Para Athletics Championships on September 11, 2020.
It was a turning point in athletics as it was the first time in paralympic sports that a transgender person was able to compete.
Petrillo’s journey is chronicled in a documentary called 5 Nanomoles – The Olympic Dream of a Trans Woman.
On April 25, 2021, Petrillo set a new national record in the 400 metres T13 class, then improved in June of the same year.
She then set another record on March 22, 2021, this time in 200 metres T12.
Petrillo told BBC Sport that her participation at the Games would be an “important symbol of inclusion”.
Last year, Petrillo won two bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships.
