First transgender Paralympian Valentina Petrillo hits back at JK Rowling after ‘out and proud cheat’ claim

The first openly transgender Paralympian has responded to accusations about their legitimacy, putting the renowned author on blast.

Valentina Petrillo, the first openly transgender athlete at the Paralympics, has hit back at JK Rowling after her “out and proud cheat” claim.

Petrillo, 51, was born male and now identifies as a woman.

She competed as a man up to the age of 45. Her visual impairment saw her qualify for this summer’s Paralympics in Paris, with her appearance coming off the back of Imane Khelif’s controversial Olympics boxing win.

Petrillo reached the semi-finals of the T12 200m and 400m races.

But her inclusion in the women’s races prompted an outcry as she went through puberty as a male.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling was one of Petrillo’s fiercest opponents.

The first openly transgender Paralympian has responded to accusations about their legitimacy, putting JK Rowling on blast.

Valentina Petrillo of Team Italy competes during the Women's 200m T12 Semi Final.

Rowling branded the Italian an ‘out and proud cheat’.

She even branded the Italian an “out and proud cheat”, with Petrillo’s participation denying female-born athletes a chance to live their Paralympics dream.

However, Petrillo hit back trackside at Rowling, saying: “I have never read Harry Potter.”

And she also told The Times: “JK Rowling is only concerned about the fact that I use the female toilet, but she doesn’t know anything about me.”

Petrillo also opened up one her hormone therapy, which started in 2019.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling was one of Petrillo’s fiercest opponents.

She added: “The beginning is devastating. I gained 10 kilos in the first month.

“My metabolism completely changed. In the first year my chest grew and, mentally, everything was different.

“I started to have a much great sensitivity. The smallest thing would make me feel like crying.”

On critics in general, Petrillo added: “All of this fear that trans people will destroy the world [of women’s sport] actually does not exist.

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

Boxer hits out at Elon Musk

It came as Olympian Imane Khelif hit out at Elon Musk for facilitating a “cruel” hate campaign against her.

The Algerian became her nation’s first Olympic gold medallist in women’s welterweight boxing and first gold medal-winning boxer since 1996 at the Paris Games this summer.

However, rather than being celebrated for her achievements, her time in France was dominated by scrutiny surrounding her participation.

It came after she was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships last year for failing International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender eligibility rules.

Khelif has always competed in the women’s boxing division and has identified as a woman since birth.

However, a swath of online hate was directed at her after she beat Italian opponent Angele Carini in 46 seconds, with the likes of JK Rowling, Donald Trump and Musk all directing vitriol towards Khelif.

Meanwhile, unsubstantiated claims she was born a male spread like wildfire on social media, despite transgender citizens not being recognised in her home country.

It came as Olympian Imane Khelif hit out at Elon Musk for facilitating a “cruel” hate campaign against her.

Khelif has now hit out at Musk for spreading hate against her, which comes after the 25-year-old filed a legal complaint against his ‘X’ platform for facilitating online harassment towards her.

In an emotional interview with French outlet CLIQUE, Khelif said: “Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign. He posted this video and it was retweeted.

“So, he was one of the first to have spread this buzz, this campaign against me.”

Musk shared a post from American swimmer Riley Gaines which read: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports,” by quoting it and saying “Absolutely”.

Khelif added: “I would say … you hate me but you don’t even know me. I don’t even know why you led this attack. You have been cruel to me, cruel to my family, to my mother.

“At that time, my mother was going to hospital every day.

“So I don’t understand the behaviour of people today. God is my guide, I am a practising Muslim woman. I am a Muslim Arabic woman and I got through this moment.

“I hope I will be even stronger in the future and come back even more motivated.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as First transgender Paralympian Valentina Petrillo hits back at JK Rowling after ‘out and proud cheat’ claim