Amy Hunt did not wait for a press conference. Seconds after finishing fourth in the women’s 200m final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday, the British sprinter looked into a BBC camera and addressed the Hollywood actress by name.
“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like. 21.4, muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears. This is a beautiful evening,” Hunt said, referencing the winning time run by American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
The line has since travelled far beyond the athletics track. Sportswomen from gymnastics to boxing have echoed it, and it has framed a growing pushback against an ad campaign that has racked up tens of millions of views since its release earlier this month.
The Novig ad Hunt was talking about
The campaign is called “Just Sports” and is fronted by Sweeney for Novig, a US sports betting operator that pitches itself on a sports-only, 21-and-over product. In the spots, Sweeney appears with little to no clothing, using pieces of sporting equipment, including a football, hockey stick and a spot on a pool table, to preserve her modesty.
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“Think you know sports? Prove it. Novig is just sports. So, they wanted to show just sports,” Sweeney says in the ad. In another scene, posed on the pool table, she adds: “You can’t trade this. I just look good here.”
Sweeney is not simply the face of the brand. She has taken a strategic partnership and an equity stake in the company, which pushed the campaign heavily on Instagram and YouTube in early September.
Hunt on 22.10, and the parts sponsors leave out
Hunt, GB’s double European individual sprint champion, ran 22.10 to finish fourth behind Jefferson-Wooden (21.47), Gabby Thomas and Kayla White. Speaking to the BBC after the race, she said the ad had been on her mind for a day.
“Obviously we’ve seen in the last 24 hours everything about the Sydney Sweeney ad, you know, and when you’re a woman in sport, it’s not pretty. It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy all the time, definitely,” Hunt said.
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She also volunteered a detail few sponsors put in glossy campaigns.
“There’s some low moments. Even turning up to this championship, my period started yesterday, so that’s not really ideal,” Hunt said.
A US gymnast and an Australian boxer echo Hunt
Hunt is not the only athlete pushing back. Former US Olympic gymnast Gracie Kramer shared a training video on Instagram with a caption borrowing Hunt’s framing.
“I don’t know what Sydney Sweeney was doing but this is what a woman in sport looks like,” Kramer wrote.
Australian boxer Skye Nicolson posted a sharper version of the same argument.
“There’s a big difference between looking ‘sexy’ because you do sport compared to using sex to sell ‘sport’,” Nicolson wrote.
Sources: – [World Athletics report, women’s 200m final Budapest 26](https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-ultimate-championship/2026/news/report/report-women-200m-world-ultimate-championship-budapest-26) – [Yahoo Sports, Hunt slams Sweeney ad](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/amy-hunt-slams-sweeney-ad-111837892.html) – [World Athletics Ultimate Championship, schedule/dates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_World_Athletics_Ultimate_Championship)Read also: Trump the fanboy, Dana White the matchmaker: Crawford's retirement is starting to look negotiable
