A gender row has broken out after the winner of a World’s Strongest Woman contest was accused of being born a biological male.
America’s Jammie Booker reigned victorious at the event, which took place in Arlington, Texas, while Britain’s Andrea Thompson, the 2018 winner, was left fuming as she finished second.
Thompson missed out on the title by just one point in the open women’s category, which requires no weight limit.
The Brit walked off the podium after the final on November 23, and claimed the result was “bull****” while her opponent continued to celebrate the triumph.
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Since then, a debate has emerged regarding Booker’s gender after a YouTube video from 2017 appeared to suggest that the competitor was born as a biological male.
In the video, which appears to be uploaded to Booker’s channel, the strongwoman said: “Everyone is dying to tell their own story, and I am obviously no exception to that.
“I’m a 21-year-old trans woman with a history of abuse, struggling to stay true to herself while under the rule of her religious parents.”
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Once this came to light, there were calls for Booker to be stripped of the World’s Strongest Woman crown, as according to Strongman Archives, she had not competed in a women’s event before June of 2025, when she turned out at the Rainier Classic-Pro-Am.
Following the backlash, Official Strongman announced on social media that they were unaware of the allegations before the event and that it “appears that an athlete who is biologically male and who now identifies as female competed in the Women's Open category”.
The statement then explained that had the organisation been aware that the athlete would not have been permitted to take part, and that Booker had since been disqualified.
“Any athlete is welcome,” part of the statement read.
“But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure athletes are assigned to men's or women’s categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.
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“Given this, we have disqualified the athlete in question from the Official Strongman World Championships 2025.
“All athlete points and places will be altered accordingly to ensure that the rightful places are allocated to each of the Women’s Open athletes.”
The ruling means Thompson is now the event’s winner.
The Brit also took to social media and described the experience as "the most exhausting" of her career after being crowned winner.
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"What should be a momentous occasion has sadly been overshadowed by scandal and dishonesty from someone who was welcomed into our crazy sport," Thompson wrote.
"A sport which encourages women to celebrate themselves without being judged on how society says they should be.
"I can honestly say that no one, including the @officialstrongmangames team, had any clue what was about to transpire. No one had any reason to suspect otherwise.
"I am not only frustrated with not being able to celebrate a win, but also for the ladies who had their time to shine on the podium or reach the final day, taken away from them."
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Thompson finished her lengthy statement by telling her fellow female competitors to "keep showing up".
Topics: Strongman
Luke Davies