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EXCLUSIVE: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office told PK Press Club Digital on Tuesday that it will investigate a recent weightlifting competition in which a biological male competed against women.
Trans athlete Jammie Booker initially won the World’s Strongest Woman 2025 title in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend, prompting competitor Andrea Thompson, who finished second, to leave the podium in protest. The official Strongman organization later announced that Booker would be “disqualified”, giving Thompson the top spot.
However, Paxton is now cracking down.
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Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Attorney General Paxton will not allow the radical left to sacrifice the integrity of women’s sports on the altar of their delusional transgender agenda. The OAG is investigating this incident and will take whatever action is necessary to protect women’s sports in Texas and across the country,” Paxton’s office said in a statement.
Paxton previously filed a lawsuit against US Masters Swimming for allowing transgender athletes to compete in San Antonio earlier this year.
A YouTube video from what appears to be Booker’s own channel, from 2017, shows Booker pretending to be “trans.”
According to Strongman ArchivesBooker hadn’t competed in women’s events until last June. It is unclear whether Booker had ever competed as a man.
A video showing Thompson coming down from the podium appearing to say: “They’re bulls…” has gone viral in recent days, drawing significant criticism from women’s sporting rights activists.
“This is a fraud – against the athletes, against the organizers,” Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), told PK Press Club Digital.
Trans swimmer banned from world athletics and stripped of recent results after refusing sex test
Andrea Thompson (left) finished second to a suspected transgender athlete in the 2025 World’s Strongest Woman competition. (Laurence Shahlaei)
“Female athletes deserve transparency, honesty and a fundamental guarantee that the competitors alongside them are women. That’s why gender-based eligibility and selection is essential. Without it, situations like this will continue to catch women off guard and undermine all competitions… Women have fought too hard, for too long, to have their sport taken away from them in plain sight. This cannot continue.”
Thompson suddenly became a leading figure in the movement to protect women’s sports from male competitors, with her recognition as a champion now celebrated as a flashpoint in the movement.
Thompson shared a message from her coach, Laurence Shahlaei, congratulating her on “winning” the event. Shahlaei posted this message on Monday, a day after the event. Shahlaei told PK Press Club Digital just before Strongman’s announcement that he was told Thompson would be crowned champion and an official announcement would be made.
“This victory was not without controversy, but I want to make it very clear that while I support and applaud people for being who they want to be, sport is sport and women’s classes exist for a reason,” Shahlaei wrote.
The Strongman official stated that he was unaware of Booker’s biological sex at the time of the competition.
“If we had known, or if it had been stated at any time before or during the competition, this athlete would not have been allowed to compete in the open women’s category. We are clear: competitors can only compete in the category of the biological sex recorded at birth,” the Strongman official said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“Official Strongman is inclusive and proud to host events that do not discriminate against athletes based on their personal characteristics. Any athlete is welcome. But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure that athletes are assigned to male or female categories based on whether they are registered as male or female at birth.”
PK Press Club Digital has reached out to Strongman Official for a response to Paxton’s statement.
