The 2025 World’s Strongest Woman competition has descended into turmoil after an alleged transgender athlete took the title only to be stripped of the honour days later.
American competitor Jammie Booker, who competitors and coaches allege is a biological male, beat the UK’s Andrea Thompson in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend, prompting uproar within the strongwoman community. Video from the medal ceremony appears to show the Brit walking off the podium in apparent disgust, seemingly saying, “this is bull****” as Booker celebrated.
Tonight, organisers said they had now disqualified Booker from the Official Strongman World Championships 2025. In a statement they said: “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.”
Thompson, from Melton, Suffolk, has since been hailed as the “true World’s Strongest Woman” by her coach and several leading figures in the sport. Three-time champion Rebecca Roberts claimed that neither competitors nor organisers were aware of Booker’s background before the event.
[Seemingly unhappy at the result, strong woman Andrea Thompson, a former world champion, walked off during the medal ceremony]
Details remain unclear, but a YouTube video posted to an account appearing to belong to Booker in 2017 includes a description as a “21-year-old trans woman… struggling to stay true to herself.” Roberts later posted an image reading “Protect Women’s Sports” and issued a lengthy statement on Instagram arguing that transgender women “should not be competing in the women’s category.”
She said transparency had been lacking and insisted women’s divisions must remain “biologically born female-only.”
