Paralympic Games has been tarnished by inclusion of trans athlete in sprint race – but there IS a solution
SIXTY-four years ago, the first Paralympic Games came to fruition – a celebration of inclusivity, diversity and fairness.
Brave athletes overcoming the cruellest of hardships and handicaps to dazzle on the global stage.
So spare (even more of) a thought for the hard-working, super-fit, talented sportswomen lining up in the T12 200m and 400m sprint events . . . against Valentina Petrillo, a 50-year-old runner who, six years ago, went by the (very male) name Fabrizio.
Valentina, who towers over her much younger opponents, will become the first openly trans athlete to compete at the Paralympics.
The beautiful, impactful Paralympic Games — a showcase of human spirit and resilience — have been traduced; inclusivity over fairness. Male-born humanity over female. Wokeness over awareness.
Because patently, this isn’t fair. In what world would a 50-year-old woman be able to compete at the highest level against opponents 20 or 30 years younger?
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Sally Gunnell isn’t nipping out of retirement any time soon to hop over some hurdles, nor is Sharron Davies freestyling to gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Valentina’s opponents have trained and sacrificed as much as their able-bodied counterparts and, arguably, have battled even harder to be on the starting line. They deserve fairness too.
Instead, Valentina’s participation means another female won’t be in Paris next week.
As if, for years, women’s sport has not been under- participated in, under-funded and under-celebrated.
It seems, in 2024, nothing has changed and we are still prioritising and protecting men. Terrified to offend the vociferous crowd who scream “TERF” at anyone who dares challenge trans inclusion in elite female sport, International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee chiefs are throwing every single woman under the bus.
Two weeks ago I wrote in defence of the controversial female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting who previously failed spurious “eligibility tests”, and who both went on to win gold.
The difference here is these individuals were born and raised as women, with female genitalia and passports. Valentina, diagnosed with incurable Stargardt disease — a severe visual impairment — aged 14, has already been dealt a tough hand in the game of life. She, too, deserves to be treated with kindness, respect and understanding. She, after all, did not make the Paralympic rules (which allow her to compete).
As things stand, the reality is this: Man identifies as woman . . . and the doors of female spaces, once again, magically swing wide open
But Paralympians, and those with disabilities in general, do not wish to be pitied.
So to point out Valentina’s clear biological and physiological advantages, even with “levelling” hormone treatment, is fair and factual.
When do you ever see a trans man cleaning up against men? You don’t.
Traversing life as a female with one limb, or impaired vision, or in a wheelchair is hard enough. Doing it on a track against someone with obvious male advantages is harder. It’s not so much tipping the playing field as inverting it.
As a man, Valentina won 11 national titles.
Decisive action
“This is not a lifestyle choice for me, this is who I am,” she told the BBC. “And the way I am, like all transgender people who do not feel they belong to their biological gender, should not be discriminated against in the same way that race, religion or political ideology should not be discriminated against.”
Sure, but as one US commentator has observed: Feelings do not trump biological truths.
And it’s time, finally, after numerous warnings in cycling, weightlifting and swimming, that governing bodies took decisive action and introduce a new, third category.
An open one for all trans or non-binary athletes.
Not only would this protect women’s spaces, ones we have fought so long to define and grow, it may just encourage young, trans people — those deserving of love and inclusion — to take up sports and feel safe to do so. Fairly.
As things stand, the reality is this: Man identifies as woman . . . and the doors of female spaces, once again, magically swing wide open.
And, at the highest level, they must not.
Gay-hatch birds are cracking publicity
THERE was much fanfare last week over “gay trailblazers” Arthur and Curtis.
The cute couple, a pair of Chilean flamingos, have hatched a chick at Paignton Zoo in Devon.
“There is no evidence the couple have a sexual relationship,” added the zoo’s bird curator, disappointingly.
Oh. So just “good mates”, then. And even better PR for Paignton Zoo.
Jokes make me gag
“WOULD you like to hear a joke?”
Aka, the worst seven words in the English language.
No. No, I wouldn’t.
Because NOTHING on Earth is more awkward than someone trying to be funny with a laborious “gag”.
Beating, even, a bloke plucking a guitar out at a house party, nothing makes me recoil faster than a face-to-face joke.
Yet it’s that time of year again: The unveiling of the wittiest joke at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe gets announced.
Comedian Mark Simmons was voted the winner with his one-liner: “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it.”
Mercifully short, but still no.
A PLEA to restaurants: Please stop with your petty aversion to tap water.
“Would you rather have still or sparkling water with that?” asks every waiter/waitress, always.
TAP, I’D LIKE TAP.
Yet when I whisper it, I’m met with a look of utter disdain, as if I had licked my plate clean or had asked to belly dance naked around my fellow diners.
If I’m forking out 80 quid for a steak and an average Malbec, the least I expect is not to be made to feel like a cheapskate pariah before the meal has even started.
Tip on trolls
IN one sentence, tragic Jay Slater’s heartbroken mum Debbie Duncan has summed up perfectly the evils of social media trolling.
“If I paid attention to them all, I’d be in a padded cell,” she said.
Advice every celebrity, politician and human being with a platform would do well to heed.
Time to wise up on AI?
APPARENTLY, 74 per cent of university students are expected to use AI to help them boost their chances of a First – ie cheating.
Professors are at their wits’ end, trying to think of ways to beat artificial intelligence into submission and make students use their actual brains.
But, really, it’s no different to teachers back in The Olden Days, telling kids not to rely on a calculator in maths “because you won’t have a calculator in your back pocket out in the real world”.
Cut to . . . mobile phones. With calculators. And Google.
So maybe, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
We may as well adapt now, before it’s too late.
AN oldie but a goodie.
This meme of Richard Gere’s canine doppelganger has been doing the rounds on Reddit.
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Still, I am pretty sure Rich would prefer this dog meme over a hamster one.
(Google it if you don’t know)