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World’s Strongest Woman contestants open up on unknowingly facing trans athlete at controversial event
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Women’s weightlifters Hailey Sikman and Jade Dickens thought they were competing at a normal World’s Strongest Woman championship last weekend. Instead, they witnessed the nation’s latest trans athlete controversy unfurl up close.
Transgender athlete Jammie Booker won first place in the women’s heavyweight division, beating female competitor Andrea Thompson by one point. However, once Booker’s biological sex was revealed, Official Strongman revised the results to give Thompson first place.
Sikman and Dickens told Fox News Digital they had no knowledge of Booker’s biological sex until after the competition.
Andrea Thompson, left, finished second to an alleged transgender athlete at the 2025 World’s Strongest Woman competition. (Laurence Shahlaei)
“Unfortunately, Jammie Booker got the best of Andrea Thompson right there at the end. And it wasn’t known to the promoters, to any of the athletes, until after the award ceremony and after everyone was gone that Jammie Booker is actually Jeffrey Booker, and he is a man,” Dickens said.
“I was beyond mad. … Had I known, I definitely would have done something about it, personally would have done something about it prior to the event being over. But nobody knew. Nobody knew he was a man.”
Dickens said she believes the organization would have removed Booker from competition had it known of the athlete’s birth sex.
“Had they had the knowledge, they would have taken care of it before the competition even started,” Dickens said.
Sikman also claimed she didn’t know of Booker’s biological sex until after the competition was over. Still, Sikman had her suspicions about Booker based on the athlete’s appearance.
“He definitely conned himself in and manipulated a situation,” Sikman said.
During the competition, Sikman tried to interact with the trans athlete, believing Booker was a woman, she said.
‘WORLD’S STRONGEST WOMAN’ COMPETITOR SPEAKS OUT AFTER WINNING TITLE FOLLOWING TRANS CONTROVERSY
“I tried to talk to him, and he kind of just blew me off,” Sikman added.
Dickens said of Booker’s behavior during the event, “I didn’t personally speak to him. … He was actually pretty quiet. … In my opinion, the reason he didn’t talk much was because his voice would have revealed he was male.”
Sikman claimed she spoke to other competitors who recalled Booker’s behavior during the weekend.
“A lot of other women were saying he was just being arrogant and talking s—,” Sikman said.
Dickens also recalled what she heard from other competitors about Booker’s conduct, saying, “In that competition atmosphere, everyone is doing a little digging. … [Trash talking] happens. It happens in all sports.”
On Monday, Booker posted a video to Instagram thanking numerous people for their assistance in what was originally a victory.
A YouTube video from what appears to be Booker’s own channel, dating back to 2017, shows Booker claiming to be “trans.”
According to Strongman Archives, Booker had not competed in women’s events prior to this past June. It is unclear whether Booker had previously competed as a man.
Official Strongman announced that Booker would be disqualified. Strongman said it had attempted to reach out to Booker, “but a response has not been received.”
Sikman hopes to see stricter measures to prevent males from sneaking into women’s competitions, saying she hopes “genetic testing or some sort of vetting process” can be employed by Official Strongman.
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Dickens said she’s been an advocate for protecting women’s sports since 2018 because she had to witness males compete in her powerlifting federation in the past. She hopes the public takes notice of this issue.
“People keep saying this is a non-issue, that this does not happen that often, that this is going to go away,” Dickens said. “Where is our trust? This just breaks down the fabric of womanhood. … We want to be trusting of everyone around us, and when men come in and deceitfully try to take what is rightfully a woman’s, it erodes the trust for that woman.”
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WARNING: Video footage contains graphic violence
A 62-year-old street vendor is recovering after a brutally violent attack by another woman in broad daylight as bystanders in downtown Los Angeles looked on.
The attack happened around 4 p.m. on June 15 in the 700 block of Figueroa Street, where Arabelia Martinez has sold hot dogs for years to support herself and her family.
Video of the incident, which has since circulated widely online, appears to show a woman confronting Martinez at her stand before spraying sauce across the vendor’s cart. Martinez responds by throwing what appears to be Tajín seasoning in the woman’s direction, and the confrontation quickly escalates.
The difficult-to-watch footage shows Martinez being shoved to the ground and struck multiple times as people look on. Some can be seen attempting to intervene, but the assault continues for roughly a minute before coming to an end.
“I was speechless,” Martinez’s son, Constantino Garcia, said after watching the video. “I couldn’t even see the whole thing.”
According to Garcia, the suspect approached his mother before the attack and attempted to intimidate her into giving her money.
“The lady came up to my mom trying to intimidate her and extort her for money, telling her she needed a permit to sell, which my mom does have,” Garcia told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo.
When Martinez refused, Garcia claims the woman became verbally abusive.
“After she didn’t get her way and tried to extort my mom, she said, ‘Go back to Mexico,’ and made some racist remarks,” he said. “She said some disgusting things to my mom.”
Garcia said his mother continues to suffer lingering effects from the attack.
“She keeps complaining about her head,” he said. “We need to go see a head specialist because her head doesn’t stop hurting. As you could see in the video, she got slammed to the ground.”
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A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia) -
A 62-year-old L.A. street vendor was violently beaten by another woman downtown as bystanders watched the broad daylight attack on June 15, 2026. (Constantino Garcia)
The video has also sparked outrage over the response from some witnesses who were nearby during the assault.
“What’s going on with our society?” Garcia said. “Are we getting desensitized to an elderly woman being beaten in broad daylight and being surrounded by people doing the bare minimum to help her? That was horrible for me to watch.”
Witness Sebastian Gutierrez said he arrived moments after the confrontation and saw Garcia’s attacker causing additional chaos in the area.
“The lady began to flip over the tables of vendors,” Gutierrez said, describing the woman as possibly unstable. “It definitely seemed like there were mental health issues or drugs involved, like we see with a lot of things here in downtown L.A.,” he said.
The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a battery investigation into the incident KTLA confirmed, though no suspect information or news of a potential arrest has been released.
Meanwhile, Martinez’s family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with her recovery and raise awareness about the dangers street vendors face daily.
“I hope that my mom gets justice for what happened to her,” Garcia said. He added that he’s been encouraged by the public response to the video.
“I’m grateful people are sympathizing with my mom,” he said. “People are giving it the attention it deserves.”
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