Martina Navratilova rips Italian sprinter set to become first transgender woman to compete at Paralympics

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Tennis great Martina Navratilova slammed Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo as a "pathetic cheater" as the 50-year-old athlete is set to become the first transgender woman to compete in the Paralympics next week. 

Navratilova, an outspoken supporter of protecting women’s rights in sports, took to social media on Thursday to call out Petrillo, who is slated to compete at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris in the women’s 200 and 400-meter races in the T12 classification for visually impaired athletes. 

Valentina Petrillo of Italy celebrates after the women's 400m T12 final during day six of the 2023 Para Athletics World Championships at Stade Charlety on July 13, 2023, in Paris, France. (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

"Petrillo is a pathetic cheater," Navratilova’s post on X read. 

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In an earlier post responding to a video of Petrillo speaking about the Summer Games, Navratilova said it was "sickening" that the Italian runner was "stealing women’s trophies." 

"Yet another male stealing women’s trophies. In [the] Paralympics, no less. Sickening." 

Petrillo, 50, was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition known as Stargardt disease as a teenager. The Italian athlete competed as a male, winning 11 national titles in the men’s T12 category between 2015 and 2018 before eventually transitioning. 

"I began transitioning in 2019 and in 2020 I realized my dream, which was to race in the female category, to do the sport that I had always loved doing," Petrillo told The Associated Press in a recent interview.  "I got to 50 before it came true … we all have the right to a second choice of life, a