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A British competitor honored as the planet's most powerful female says she was robbed of her winning moment after it emerged the original champion was a trans female who was not qualified to compete.

The British strongwoman was granted the championship after the fact after US competitor Jammie Booker was removed from competition.

Thompson told sports media the competition, held in the Texas city of Arlington, was overshadowed by an individual who wasn't eligible to participate.

"I felt extremely disappointed and upset 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 finished 11th didn't get the opportunity to do the third day... to achieve the top 10 status in the world."

Event coordinators, the strongman organization, stated "participants could only participate in the division for their birth sex registered at birth", and that they had disqualified the competitor in dispute "who was male by birth."

Event Details

Documentation show Booker took part in at least two other female strength events this year - taking first place at the Washington competition in summer and finishing second at North America's Strongest Woman in mid-summer.

Sports media were unable to reach Booker and the organization confirmed "an attempt had been made to contact the competitor... but a reply had not been received."

Thompson, 43, eventually was declared the world's strongest woman for the second occasion, having earlier won the championship in 2018.

But it was only following this season's event concluded that she discovered her opponent had been not qualified to participate.

"There existed no indication at all during the competition - no-one had any reason to suspect anything," said the parent from Suffolk.

"It happened about six hours after that the first rumours started going round, and then the officials notified me.

"It's a significant accomplishment that's been marred by some dishonesty."

Event Particulars

Strength contests have no single governing body, rather, independent groups run a range of events.

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

More than four hundred athletes from approximately forty countries participated in this year's event, which coordinators describe as "among the highest points of the power sports community."

The Games featured events across various gender, weight and years categories.

Thompson and Booker were in the Female Open division and competed in six disciplines over multiple days, including the overhead press, frame carrying and deadlift ladder.

Rules and Qualifications

A statement from event officials stated: "Athletes are placed to men's or female categories based on whether they are registered as man or woman at birth.

"Evidence suggests that an athlete who is male by birth and who now identifies as female participated in the Female Open division... officials were unaware of this fact prior to the competition."

In 2023, Texas introduced a regulation banning "biological men from competing against female athletes", although this is limited to higher education athletics in the state.

Thompson thinks female strength events may implement gender verification in the coming years.

"I suppose it's going to have to proceed along that route... but our sport is still quite new. There's insufficient funding in it to have these things in place. We depend on the honesty of the athletes."

Wider Athletic Landscape

In recent years, a growing number of sports federations have prohibited competitors who have experienced puberty as males from competing in elite women's events, amid concerns over fairness and safety, including global aquatics and athletics organizations.

In spring, prominent UK sports bodies were among a group of institutions to implement similar policies, after the Britain's highest court's decision that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The moves have been challenged by trans rights campaigners, who contend they could infringe upon individual freedoms and insist participation should be prioritised.

Both global track and field and boxing bodies implemented chromosomal testing this year, claiming it is necessary to safeguard the integrity of female sports.

A representative from the global track organization has claimed that between fifty to sixty competitors who went through male puberty have been finalists in the women's division in global and continental athletics championships since 2000.