"contest of strength" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to a competition that is based on physical strength. For example, "The two wrestlers engaged in a contest of strength, vying for the title of champion."
She did so in "Anthracite Fields," which won the Pulitzer Prize this year, and in "Steel Hammer" (2009), a work that distills the many folklore versions of John Henry — the legendary railroad steel driver who died after winning a contest of strength against a steam-powered hammer — into a compelling, unified image.
If we take for granted this "general principle of practical reasoning," why should we recognize the existence of any exclusionary reasons, which by definition prevail independently of any contest of strength?
As many experts have pointed out, Xi wants to pull South Korea away from the trilateral security regime of Seoul, Tokyo and Washington amid a contest of strength among China, the United States and Japan.
If the horse tries to pull the lead rope away by throwing his head about, let him have it, you're not going to win any contest of strength with a horse.
Stags, rams, and bulls use antlers or horns in contests of strength; a winning male usually secures more female mates.
In a young man beauty is the possession of a body fit to endure the exertion of running and of contests of strength; which means that he is pleasant to look at; and therefore all-round athletes are the most beautiful, being naturally adapted both for contests of strength and for speed also.
"Only when everyone plays by the same rules can we avoid the mistakes of the past, like when countries challenged one another in contests of strength and will, with disastrous consequences for the region," Carter said.
By A. J. Liebling The New Yorker, July 8 , 1939P. 57 REPORTER AT LARGE about some of the wrestling exhibitions which take place at Ridgewood, L.I. Jack Pfefer conducts the matches, and makes no pretense at all that they are contests of strength and despite the decline in wrestling, had managed to still make money.
One dictionary defines athlete as: "One trained to physical exercises, feats or contests of strength". A good case can be made for drivers on each of those points.
Since then, the 10-event contest of speed, strength and agility has been the benchmark of track-and-field supremacy.
