Title revoked from World's Strongest Woman after organizers discovershe is 'biologically male'

New York Post

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00:00A professional lifter who was crowned the world's strongest woman during a competition in Texas

00:04this month has been stripped of her title after organizers say they made the shocking discovery

00:09that she was born a man. American Jamie Booker, who officials now claim failed to disclose her

00:14biological sex before competing in the Women's Open category of the official Strongman Games

00:19World Championship, bested 2018 winner Britain's Andrea Thompson by one point. Booker took to her

00:25now private Instagram account before the controversy to thank her fans for the support.

00:29Including people who donated more than $1,500 to send the athlete to the competition.

00:34I want to say thank you to my coach, obviously, and to my gym mates for always pushing me and

00:41encouraging me and seeming to my fellow competitors today. You are all insanely badass women and it

00:50was an honor just to even share the stage with you. But the celebration was short-lived. When

00:56rumors started to circulate about Booker's biological sex, especially after a video on social media

01:02boosted by libs of TikTok showed runner-up Thompson storming off the podium as she cursed about

01:07the contest. A YouTube video was also dug up, allegedly posted on Booker's YouTube account

01:12in 2017, in which the weightlifter appears to admit to being a trans woman.

01:17Everyone on earth is dying to tell their own story and I am obviously no exception to that.

01:22I'm a 21-year-old trans woman with a history of abuse struggling to stay true to herself

01:26while under the rule of her religious parents.

01:28More strong women started coming out of the woodwork to bring light to the situation.

01:32Three-time strong woman winner Rebecca Roberts posted a lengthy caption on Instagram, writing

01:38that even the event's organizers were unaware of Booker's alleged biological sex.

01:43What happened this weekend wasn't transparent. None of us knew. Not even the organizers knew.

01:48And when fairness is taken by surprise, trust in the sport begins to crack.

01:52My message is simple. Trans people belong in sport, but women's divisions must remain biologically

01:58born female only. Morgan Irons, a professional strong woman, also criticized Booker's transparency

02:06about competing as an alleged biological male.

02:08I just want to preface with the fact that I have no ill will or hatred towards the trans

02:13community in any way, shape, or form. You are free to be exactly who you want to be in

02:18this world, as am I. But at the end of the day, this comes down to a lack of transparency

02:24and honesty. This individual competed in the women's division as a biological man, plain

02:30and simple. Organizers of the official Strongman Games World Championship took swift action,

02:35posting an update on Instagram claiming they had been urgently investigating the matter and

02:40that if they had been aware of Booker's biological sex, then she would not have been permitted

02:45to compete in the women's open category. Official Strongman is inclusive and proud to run events

02:51which do not discriminate against athletes based on personal characteristics. Any athlete

02:55is welcome. But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure athletes are assigned

03:01to men or women's categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.

03:07Organizers said Booker had violated the contest's rules, which clearly stipulate that athletes

03:11must compete in the category that aligns with their biological sex at birth. Booker was stripped

03:16of her title and the places in the competition were altered to reflect the disqualification.

03:21Organizers said attempts to reach Booker had failed and she hasn't addressed the disqualification

03:27or controversy. Thompson, the newly crowned world's strongest woman, took to Instagram to celebrate

03:33the community that stood up for women's sports.

03:35I am grateful to the team for reaching out to me, investigating and rectifying the situation

03:40so quickly, honoring the title to me, which is something we just don't see in any other

03:44sport that has faced a similar position. This means that we, as a community, are taking

03:50a stand, protecting women's sport as we have fought so hard for. Whilst I cannot say it won't

03:55ever happen again, I am confident that we will work something out to prevent it in the future.

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