Jammie Booker faced disqualification from the world's strongest woman competition
An English competitor crowned the world's strongest woman says she was deprived of her victory celebration after it emerged the initial winner was a transgender woman who was ineligible to compete.
Andrea Thompson was granted the championship retrospectively after American athlete the disqualified contestant was removed from competition.
The champion explained to sports media the competition, held in Arlington, Texas, was clouded by somebody who shouldn't have been there.
"I felt very frustrated and angry with her actions," she stated. "She lied and was very deceptive, and deprived a lot of opportunities from a lot of women.
"The lady that came 11th didn't get the chance to do the third day... to have the elite ranking in the world."
Event coordinators, the competition body, stated "participants could only compete in the category for their birth sex registered at birth", and that they had disqualified the athlete in dispute "who was male by birth."
Records indicate the disqualified athlete took part in at least two other strongwoman events this season - winning the Rainier Classic in June and finishing second at the continental championship in mid-summer.
Journalists could not reach Booker and the organization confirmed "an attempt had been made to get in touch with the athlete... but a response had not been obtained."
The British athlete had initially finished runner-up to the American athlete
Thompson, 43, ultimately was declared the world's strongest woman for the second time, having earlier claimed the title in two thousand eighteen.
But it was only following this year's competition concluded that she discovered her opponent had been not qualified to compete.
"There existed no indication at all during the event - no-one had any cause to question any issues," said the parent from Suffolk.
"It was about six hours after that the initial speculation started going round, and then the officials notified me.
"It's a significant achievement that's been overshadowed by some dishonesty."
Power competitions have no single regulatory authority, rather, independent groups run a range of events.
The Global Female Strength championship is awarded at the Official Strongman Games, organized by a British organization.
Over four hundred competitors from nearly forty countries took part in this season's competition, which organisers characterize as "one of the highest points of the strength world."
The Competition featured contests across multiple sex, weight and age classifications.
Thompson and the American competitor were in the Women's Open division and competed in six events over multiple days, including the log press, timber frame carry and progressive deadlift.
A statement from the organization stated: "Competitors are assigned to male or female categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.
"Evidence suggests that an competitor who is male by birth and who currently self-identifies as a woman participated in the Women's Open category... officials were not informed of this situation prior to the event."
In 2023, the state introduced a regulation prohibiting "males by birth from competing against female athletes", although this is limited to college and university athletics in the region.
The champion thinks female strength events may introduce gender verification in the coming years.
"I suppose it's going to have to proceed along that path... but our sport is still quite new. There's insufficient money in it to have these procedures in operation. We rely on the honesty of the athletes."
In the past few seasons, a increasing number of athletic organizations have prohibited athletes who have experienced male puberty from competing in top-level women's events, amid concerns over equity and protection, including global aquatics and track and field organizations.
In May, prominent UK athletic organizations were among a group of associations to implement similar policies, after the Britain's highest court's decision that the legal definition of a female is based on biological sex.
The decisions have been opposed by transgender advocacy campaigners, who contend they could infringe upon individual freedoms and insist inclusion should be emphasized.
Both international athletics and boxing bodies introduced genetic sex screening this year, claiming it is necessary to safeguard the fairness of female sports.
An official from international athletics has stated that between fifty to sixty athletes who experienced puberty as males have been top placers in the female category in global and continental athletics championships since the year two thousand.
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