Female athletes accuse Sydney Sweeney of sexualizing women in sports

Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus criticised Sydney Sweeney for her controversial ad (Pic: File/Olympics)

A controversial commercial starring American actor Sydney Sweeney for sports betting market platform Novig has drawn massive criticism from female athletes, who said that the campaign objectifies women in sports.

In the advertisement for Novig, Sweeney appears with little or no clothing, covering parts of her body with strategically placed footballs and other sports apparel. The ad drew rapid response across social media from well-known female sports stars who called the portrayal degrading.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus expressed her outrage on Instagram: "I can't describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this. How do we live in a world where monetising a woman's body and sexualizing women's sport is still a thing?"

British sprinter Amy Hunt directly confronted the actor following her fourth-place finish in the 200 meters at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest, telling the BBC: "Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears."

Sydney Sweeney responds after athletes show their anger

Former American gymnast Gracie Kramer also criticised the campaign's themes on Instagram, sharing videos of female athletes training alongside captions highlighting athletic strength.

"I've spent my entire life competing in a sport where female athletes have been oversexualized, reduced to our bodies, and forced to fight to be taken seriously for what we can actually do," Kramer wrote.

Adding to the outrage, Chinese-German rugby player Sofie Fella noted that female competitors inspire women by breaking free from traditional beauty standards, saying: "And that's why that Sydney Sweeney ad is so disrespectful to every female athlete in the world."

Neither representatives for Sweeney nor Novig immediately responded to requests for comment. However, Sydney Sweeney addressed the backlash over the weekend by sharing past covers of ESPN The Magazine's 'Body Issue', an annual publication featuring elite athletes posing nude or semi-nude to celebrate diverse physical forms.

Sweeney, a two-time Emmy nominee who previously produced and starred in the Christy Martin boxing biopic "Christy," is no stranger to public discourse surrounding her endorsements; her 2025 American Eagle "jeans/genes" campaign similarly sparked intense online debate.

(With input from AP)