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A British competitor honored as the world's strongest woman says she was robbed of her victory celebration after it was revealed the original champion was a transgender woman who was not qualified to compete.

The British strongwoman was awarded the title after the fact after American athlete the disqualified contestant was disqualified.

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

"I felt very disappointed and upset with what she's done," she stated. "She lied and was very dishonest, and deprived a lot of things from a lot of female athletes.

"The lady that came 11th was denied the chance to do the third day... to achieve the top 10 status in the world."

Event coordinators, the competition body, stated "participants could only compete in the category for their birth sex recorded at birth", and that they had disqualified the competitor in question "who was male by birth."

Event Details

Records show the disqualified athlete took part in at least several additional strongwoman competitions this year - winning the Washington competition in summer and placing runner-up at North America's Strongest Woman in mid-summer.

Journalists were unable to contact Booker and the organization confirmed "efforts had been made to contact the athlete... but a response had not been received."

The champion, 43, eventually was declared the world's strongest woman for the second occasion, having previously won the championship in two thousand eighteen.

But it was only following this year's event concluded that she discovered her rival had been ineligible to compete.

"There existed nothing at all during the competition - nobody had any reason to suspect anything," said the parent from East Anglia.

"It happened about several hours after that the initial speculation started going round, and then the organisers contacted me.

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

Competition Details

Power competitions have no unified governing body, rather, private organizations run a range of events.

The Global Female Strength championship is awarded at the Official Strongman Games, organized by a UK-registered company.

More than 400 athletes from approximately forty countries took part in this season's competition, which coordinators characterize as "among the highest points of the strength world."

The Competition included contests across various sex, weight and years categories.

The British athlete and the American competitor were in the Women's Open division and participated in six events over three days, including the log press, frame carrying and deadlift ladder.

Rules and Eligibility

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

"It appears that an competitor who is male by birth and who currently self-identifies as a woman competed in the Women's Open category... officials were unaware of this situation ahead of the event."

In twenty twenty-three, the state introduced a law prohibiting "biological men from competing against female athletes", although this is limited to higher education sport in the state.

The champion thinks strongwoman competitions may introduce sex screening in the coming years.

"I suppose it's going to have to go down that route... but our sport is still relatively recent. There's not enough money in it to have these things in operation. We depend on the integrity of the athletes."

Broader Sports Context

In recent years, a growing quantity of sports federations have barred competitors who have experienced male puberty from competing in elite female competition, amid apprehensions over fairness and protection, including international swimming and athletics bodies.

In May, prominent British sports bodies were among a number of associations to implement similar policies, after the Britain's highest court's decision that the legal definition of a female is based on birth sex.

The decisions have been opposed by transgender advocacy activists, who argue they could infringe upon human rights and insist participation should be emphasized.

Both global track and field and boxing organizations introduced genetic sex screening this year, asserting it is necessary to safeguard the integrity of women's competition.

A representative from the global track organization has claimed that between fifty to sixty competitors who went through puberty as males have been top placers in the female category in global and continental track and field championships since the year two thousand.