Transgender athlete 'was very dishonest' says world's strongest woman

A British athlete crowned the world's strongest woman says she was "robbed" of her winning moment after it emerged the original champion was a transgender woman who was ineligible to compete.

Andrea Thompson was awarded the title retrospectively after American athlete Jammie Booker was disqualified.

Thompson told BBC Sport the competition, held in Arlington, Texas, was "overshadowed by somebody who shouldn't have been there".

"I was very frustrated and angry with what she’s done," she said. "She lied and was very dishonest, and took away a lot of things from a lot of women.

"The lady that came 11th didn't get the chance to do the third day... to have the top 10 status in the world."

Organisers, Official Strongman, said "competitors could only compete in the category for their biological sex recorded at birth", and that they had disqualified the athlete in question "who is biologically male".

Records show Booker took part in at least two other strongwoman competitions this year - winning the Rainier Classic in June and finishing second at North America's Strongest Woman in July.

BBC Sport was unable to contact Booker and Official Strongman said "an attempt had been made to contact the competitor... but a response had not been received."

Thompson, 43, eventually became the world's strongest woman for the second time, having previously won the title in 2018.

But it was only after this year's event finished that she learned her rival had been ineligible to compete.

"There was nothing at all during the competition - no-one had any reason to suspect anything," said the mother of two from Suffolk.

"It was about six hours after that the first rumours started going round, and then the organisers contacted me.

"It's a massive achievement that's been overshadowed by some dishonesty."

Strength contests have no single governing body, instead, private organisations run a range of competitions.

The World's Strongest Woman title is awarded at the Official Strongman Games, run by Official Strongman Worldwide, a company registered in the UK.

More than 400 athletes from nearly 40 countries took part in this year's event, which organisers describe as "one of the pinnacles of the strength world".

The Games included contests across multiple gender, weight and age classifications.

Thompson and Booker were in the Women's Open category and competed in six disciplines over three days, including the log press, timber frame carry and deadlift ladder.

A statement from Official Strongman said: "Athletes are assigned to men's or women's categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.

"It appears that an athlete who is biologically male and who now identifies as female competed in the Women's Open category... officials were unaware of this fact ahead of the competition."

In 2023, Texas introduced a law prohibiting "biological men from competing against female athletes", although this only applies to college and university sport in the state.

Thompson believes strongwoman events may introduce sex screening in the future.

"I guess it's going to have to go down that route... but our sport is still quite new. There's not enough money in it to have these things in place. We rely on the honesty of the athletes."

In recent years a growing number of sports federations have barred athletes who have gone through male puberty from competing in elite female competition, amid concerns over fairness and safety, including World Aquatics and World Athletics.

In May the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board were among a number of British sports bodies to follow suit, after the UK Supreme Court's ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The moves have been opposed by trans rights campaigners, who argue they could violate human rights and insist inclusion should be prioritised.

Both World Athletics and World Boxing introduced genetic sex screening this year, claiming it is needed to protect the integrity of women's competition.

A World Athletics official has claimed that between 50 and 60 athletes who went through male puberty have been finalists in the female category in global and continental track and field championships since 2000.