Amy Hunt expressed serious concerns that Sydney Sweeney's provocative betting commercial could act as a deterrent for young girls who might otherwise be inspired to take up sport. The advertisement, produced for the U.S. betting firm Novig, showcases the actress from "Euphoria" in a scantily clad state, using sports equipment as a makeshift covering.
This visual strategy sparked a wave of criticism from women athletes and advocates who felt the image undermined genuine sporting role models. Hunt, who recently finished fourth in the 200‑metre race at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, responded directly to Sweeney, saying, "This is what women in sport look like." She used the platform of Good Morning Britain to argue that role models for girls should emphasize capability over appearance.
"When we're trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it's about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like," she asserted. The British sprinter highlighted a troubling statistic: roughly 64 percent of girls drop out of organized sport before they turn 16. She warned that any additional obstacles—whether visual, cultural, or commercial—could exacerbate that attrition. "We don't need to place any kind of barrier whatsoever in their way in terms of providing the opportunity and the empowerment for them to still exercise, whatever that looks like, professional or kind of just going to do a ParkRun with your friends," Hunt explained.
Her message centered on empowerment and self‑acceptance. "It's about empowering young girls and young women and young people to show that you really can just get out there and you don't have to worry what you look like, you don't have to worry about what you're wearing," she said.
She reminded listeners that sport is rarely glamorous: "Sport, it's not pretty, and that's the thing to get to the level that we're at. It's shown to people that being aspirational and trying to be elite is something amazing, and you should really want to be the best version of yourself you can be." Hunt also acknowledged the gritty reality of elite competition, noting that success often comes with moments of discomfort and vulnerability. "And that doesn't always look attractive, and that doesn't always look nice.
Sometimes it looks like throwing up in the corner of the track, or I've had sessions this year where I've been crying afterwards," she confessed, underscoring that authenticity matters more than aesthetic appeal. The backlash was not limited to Hunt. Former U.S. Olympic gymnast Gracie Kramer posted a video of herself performing, captioning it, "Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing but this is what a woman in sport looks like." Australian boxer Skye Nicolson added her voice on Instagram, drawing a line between athletes who happen to look "sexy" because of their training and the deliberate use of sexual imagery to sell sport.
"There's a big difference between looking 'sexy' because you do sport compared to using sex to sell 'sport'," Nicolson wrote. In what appeared to be a defensive move, Sweeney shared a series of images from ESPN Magazine's BODY Issue on her Instagram stories.
The featured photographs included nude or semi‑nude portraits of celebrated athletes such as Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe, perhaps an attempt to reframe the conversation around body positivity and athletic achievement rather than mere sexualization. Hunt believes that the collective outcry from women in sport has already shifted the narrative away from the ad itself.
"The reaction has almost outweighed the moment because the first thing I saw was all of the positive compilations of women in sport," she said. She noted that the conversation has evolved beyond a personal attack on Sweeney and toward a broader discussion about intention, representation, and the future of women's sport. "It's actually kind of moved. It's separated itself from the moment entirely, and it's not anything personal against that actress," Hunt clarified.
"It's more the kind of intention, and it's just moved into a completely different spin now, where we're able to kind of have all these different things celebrating women's sport." The incident underscores a growing tension in modern advertising: the balance between leveraging star power and respecting the integrity of the communities being represented. For many female athletes, the priority remains clear—showing young girls that sport is about strength, resilience, and personal growth, not about conforming to a narrow standard of beauty. By amplifying authentic role models and rejecting reductive imagery, they hope to keep the doors of sport open for the next generation, ensuring that the 64 percent dropout rate can be reversed through encouragement, inclusive messaging, and real‑world examples of women who succeed on their own terms.