Sydney Sweeney Defiantly Posts More Naked Photos Online To Fight Back Against Olympian Sports Ad Fury

Sydney Sweeney has appeared to respond to fierce criticism of her provocative Novig sports campaign by sharing images from ESPN's Body Issue featuring nude athletes, including Serena Williams and Ronda Rousey.

The 29-year-old actress shared the images on Instagram Stories on Sunday, 13 September, amid criticism from female athletes and Olympians over the sports betting advert, which they accused of sexualising women in sport.

Sydney Sweeney Posts Body Issue Photos

Sweeney's Instagram Stories featured a series of images from ESPN's Body Issue, including magazine covers showing prominent athletes posing nude or partially nude, such as Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe and Caroline Wozniacki.

She also shared Body Issue images featuring male athletes, including Philadelphia Eagles players, former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, Myles Garrett and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The posts appeared as Sweeney faced criticism over her Novig campaign.

Sweeney did not explicitly say the images were intended as a response to the backlash, but their timing led several reports to describe them as an apparent response to the criticism.

The advert shows Sweeney in little to no clothing as she mock-plays tennis, golf, baseball and ice hockey, while posing with basketballs, footballs and a soccer ball as she promotes the ability to trade on 'just sports.'

'So they wanted to show just sports,' she says while perched topless on a basketball hoop.

After repeating the word 'sports' nine times, Sweeney appears topless on a pool table before saying, 'You can't trade this, I just look good here.'

Athletes Slam Sydney Sweeney Sports Ad

The controversy centres on Novig's 'Just Sports' campaign, which launched earlier this month and prompted criticism from athletes over its portrayal of women in sport.

According to ABC News, dozens of athletes have criticised the campaign, with Australian Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus calling it 'an absolute joke.'

Titmus said she felt 'infuriated' by the advert and argued that sexualising women's sport undermined the dedication, teamwork and excellence of female athletes.

Hockeyroos goalkeeper Joc Bartram also criticised the campaign, saying there were other ways to attract attention without 'sexualising women's sport once again.'

Sweeney's Novig Campaign Sparks Wider Debate

The backlash has also spread beyond Australia, with athletes sharing their own training and competition footage to highlight women's sporting achievements.

American gymnast Gracie Kramer was among the first to respond, posting a video contrasting Sweeney's advert with images of women actually competing in sport.

Other Australian athletes, including Lani Pallister, Bree Masters, Lauren Ryan and Liz Clay, also joined the online response.

The campaign has nevertheless drawn support from some social media users, with some defending Sweeney and the advert.

Sydney Sweeney Explains 'Just Sports' Concept

Sweeney has not directly addressed the athletes' criticism in a new statement, but she previously explained the thinking behind the campaign.

'The campaign was about embracing a fun idea,' Sweeney said in a statement. 'The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports.'

Novig has said its platform is focused on sports, rather than prediction markets covering topics such as politics, wars or deaths.

The latest Instagram posts have added another layer to a controversy that has quickly moved beyond the advert itself, with attention now focused on whether Sweeney's use of famous nude athlete imagery was intended as a rebuttal to critics.