Italian athlete Valentina Petrillo has responded to Harry Potter author JK Rowling after being labelled a ‘cheat’ at the Paralympics.

The 51-year-old is representing Italy at this summer’s Paralympics in France and has caused controversy by competing as a woman.

Petrillo previously competed in the games as a man until six years ago.

She won a 400m heat for visually-impaired females earlier in the week and was publicly labelled a cheat by Rowling on X.

‘Devastated’ Raygun speaks out for first time since going viral with Olympics breakdancing performance Credit: Instagram/raygun_aus0 seconds of 2 minutes, 21 secondsVolume 90%
Rowling wrote: “Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo? The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility!

“Out-and-proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model. I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on.”

Petrillo was asked to respond to Rowling after reaching the semi-finals of the 200m.

She said: “I’m flattered that Rowling is talking about me – I’ve never even read Harry Potter. I’m told she wrote it but I didn’t read it.

“By the way, I was told that she in her own book wrote about a sport where there is no gender. So I was expecting different behaviour from Rowling.”

Rowling has previously received severe backlash for her comments on transgender issues.

Valentina Petrillo finished 9th at the Olympics

Petrillo ran a season-best time of 25.92 seconds but that wasn’t enough for her to qualify for the final.

Earlier this week, she responded to the backlash over her participation in the games and stated his wish to live in the paralympic village for all of her life if she could.

“There is so much transphobia in all this,” Petrillo claimed.

“The most important word in Olympic and Paralympic sports is inclusion. We have to find solutions to include everyone, because everyone needs to feel joy in sports, so that’s why we are here. I think that if we want to, we can find a solution.

“I would like to live in the Paralympic Village all my life because, honestly, I feel protected here.”