No longer content with cyberbullying cis women, JK Rowling is (unsurprisingly) doubling down in cruelty. Her latest target is a visually impaired sprinter in the Paralympics.

At 51 years old, Valentina Petrillo is now the first out trans person to compete in the Paralympics (BBC reports that the first trans woman in general was Ingrid van Kranen, who competed in the discus event in 2016 but was not broadly out at the time).

On Monday, Petrillo finished third in the women’s 400m semi-finals in the T12 category for the visually impaired. Although she achieved her personal best time (57.58 seconds), she has not qualified for the finals.

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“I tried my best until the end, I didn’t make it, I missed the last straight,” Petrillo told The Guardian after the event. “I pushed more than I did this morning and I tried my best. They are stronger than me.

“With 57.50, I have to be happy even if I’m a little down,” she added. “I’m a little down, but I hope my son will be proud of me. This is important to me because he has a trans dad, not the dad that everyone dreams of. But I hope he will be proud of me.”

Despite not making it to the finals, Petrillo’s history-making participation made headlines, which is enough these days to incur the wrath of she-who-must-not-be-named. Shortly after the race, the terminally online author tweeted to baselessly label Petrillo a “cheat.” She even went so far as to compare her to Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who had his medals stripped for doping.

“Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo?” she tweeted. “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. #Cheats #NoShame.”

Responding to a post that accused her of stereotyping, Rowling added, “Stereotypes are simplistic/prejudiced blanket assumptions about a demographic that don’t correlate with the facts. I know all trans people aren’t cheats. However, knowing you have an unfair advantage and exploiting it anyway is pretty much the textbook definition of cheating.”

Evidently, both the World Para Athletics Association and the International Paralympic Committee forgot to consult a children’s author on matters of athletic fairness. As did the International Olympic Commission when approving Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who is currently suing Rowling for cyberbullying.

Fortunately, Petrillo anticipated this rhetoric ahead of time and went into the race ready to tune out the transphobes. “From this day forth I don’t want to hear any more talk about discrimination or prejudice for trans people,” she said. “Now I’ve made it, so we can all make it if I’ve made it. I’ve done my little bit and we can all make it.”

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