In an unexpected turn of events, the title of World’s Strongest Woman has been rescinded from the recent victor after it was alleged that she did not meet the competition’s gender eligibility requirements.
Jammie Booker had emerged as the top competitor at the Official Strongman Games World Championship held in Arlington, Texas. However, her title was revoked following accusations that she is transgender, conflicting with the competition’s rules regarding gender classification.
The competition’s organizers assert that Booker breached the event’s criteria, which stipulate that athletes must compete in the category corresponding to their biological sex as determined at birth. Evidence was presented to substantiate this allegation.
In an official statement, the organizers of Official Strongman explained: “It appears that an athlete who is biologically male and who now identifies as female competed in the Women’s Open category. Official Strongman officials were unaware of this fact ahead of the competition, and we have been urgently investigating since being informed.
“An attempt has been made to contact the competitor involved but a response has not been received. Had we been aware, or had this been declared at any point before or during the competition, this athlete would not have been permitted to compete in the Woman’s Open category.
“We are clear – competitors can only compete in the category for the biological sex recorded at birth.”
The statement further elaborated: “Any athlete is welcome. But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure athletes are assigned to men or women’s categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.
“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.”
British competitor Andrea Thompson has now been officially recognized as the World’s Strongest Woman. She took to social media to express that her achievement has been ‘overshadowed’ by the controversy.
“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 on Instagram.
“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.”
Thompson continued to express that both she and her fellow athletes feel ‘mentally drained’ as they have ‘received backlash and insults’ in the wake of the decision to disqualify Booker.
“We, as a community are taking a stand. Protecting women’s sport as we have fought so hard for,” Thompson added.
As of now, Booker has not made any public comments regarding her disqualification.