The internet is up in arms after an ad released by sports betting company Novig starring Sydney Sweeney stirred controversy this past week. The ad features Sweeney, an American actress, using different sports equipment to cover elements of her naked body, whilst she says the words ‘sports’, and then, ‘it’s just sports’.
The response from female athletes has been pretty loud and unanimous, expressing frustration with what they perceive to be the sexualisation and mockery of women in sport, with several prominent athletes taking to social media with content showing what a woman in sport looks like to them. Amongst others, Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering shared a reel with her audience in which she also said; “it’s also sad women still need to have this conversation”.
Maddy Nutt
Hailing from London, Maddy Nutt shot to prominence in the gravel scene this year winning the Traka 560 and coming second at Unbound XL. She rides for Q36.5 Off Road Racing.
Women’s sport has been on the rise in recent years, with more and more eyes tuning in and, as a response, better funding going into it. We saw the Lionesses (England’s women’s football team) win Euros in 2022 and 2025, which helped stir up public interest in women’s sport in the UK, and in cycling we have recently seen the return of the women’s edition of the Tour De France with viewership increasing year on year and crowds turning out in full force to spectate the race.
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The stats have shown that women’s sports’ popularity is on the rise, and with this comes the respect for and perception of the female athletes themselves. For me that is why this ad felt like such a kick in the teeth to a movement that has been gaining so much traction in recent years.
“This ad felt like a kick in the teeth to a movement that has been gaining so much traction”
As a professional female athlete, I know how hard it can be to get people to take you seriously in your sport and how hard it is to maintain female participation levels. Two-thirds of teenage girls drop out of sport by the age of 16 as a result of the barriers to continued participation. There exist many cultural and social reasons for this. The barriers to reaching a level where you can earn a full-time salary from your sport are greater still.
Our bodies go through such extreme changes in adolescence, and body confidence can really impact levels of participation in young people, particularly women. Add in the media shooting out an advert of a naked, slim, beautiful actress in sporting contexts, and you send a rather extreme, unhealthy message to these young women about what a woman in sport should look like.
“Women’s sport has been on the rise in recent years,” says Nutt
(Image credit: Jess Meniere)
Some have sprung to the defence of the advert, and Sweeney herself pointed out that professional athletes have taken part in naked photoshoots in the past, asking where the difference is with the Novig campaign.
For me, the clear distinction here lies in a professional showing off their athletic body with the goal of promoting body positivity: showing its strength and power. Versus someone who is not an athlete sexualising their body in order to sell a product. In this instance, a gambling product aimed at men. It is a celebration of male voyeurism rather than a celebration of an athletic female body.
There is no denying that this advert has been successful. It has been divisive and is clearly provocative, perhaps made intentionally to anger people. The age-old saying ‘no PR is bad PR’ seems to apply here, as the backlash has meant that the advert has spread even further, and perhaps to new audiences. Even by the people it upset.
I see these conversations as an opportunity to highlight women’s sport in a positive light and the need for these discussions about respect for women in sport, as well as their participation in sport at all levels. What shocked me the most this week was not the advert itself, but the comments on the social media feeds of the female athletes who spoke out. Misogyny is still very much present in some parts of our society, and, unfortunately for me, a section of the internet that was fed my content via the algorithm.
“Misogyny is still very much present in parts of our society”
Amongst many rather unpleasant comments, a follower of mine told another woman in my comments to ‘go back to the kitchen’, while I was told by other men that “nobody cares about women’s sports”, and “Riding a bike? Wow…you’ve achieved what most have by age 6”. There were also comments about how only five women would be able to finish the Tour if it was the length of the men’s race, and others such as “women’s sport is a joke”.
And this was only on my post. These comments are replicated thousands of times across multiple responses to the ad. This campaign really unearthed a wider and deeper problem, which is that there still exists a real societal issue with the perception of women, and in particular within sporting settings.
In 2026 this feels rather crazy to be saying, but I do think that with the rise in popularity of figures like Andrew Tate comes a rise in a rather depressing sub-section of society who really do lack respect for women in all walks of life.
So what can we do? We can keep shouting from the rooftops about how exciting women’s cycling is. (It really is!) We can inspire other women to get on two wheels or just move their bodies in the way they feel most comfortable. We can encourage those around us to interact with women’s sport in whatever way they can. We can support and encourage the female athletes in our lives: our mothers, our sisters and our daughters. Because this advert shouldn’t be a step back for women’s sport, but an opportunity for a huge leap forward.
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