A British athlete crowned the world’s strongest woman says she was “robbed” of her winning moment when it was revealed the original champion was a transgender woman, making her ineligible to compete.
The title was retroactively awarded to Andrea Thompson after American athlete Jamie Booker was disqualified.
Thompson told BBC Sport that the competition, held in Arlington, Texas, was “influenced by someone who should not have been there”.
“I was very disappointed and angry at what he did,” she said. “She lied and was very dishonest, and took a lot of things away from a lot of women.
“The woman who came 11th didn’t get a chance to be ranked top 10 in the world… on day three.”
Organizers, Official Strongman, said “competitors may only compete in this category based on their biological sex as recorded at birth”, and that they have disqualified any athlete who is “biologically male”.
<a href