Britain’s golden girl Amy Hunt doubles down in Sydney Sweeney row on GMB
Amy Hunt has doubled down on her criticism of Sydney Sweeney after she posed naked in a betting advert.
Hunt had accused the actress of sexualising women’s sport after she featured in a promotional video for bookmaker Novig in which she used various pieces of sports equipment to cover herself up.
The advert has drawn widespread condemnation from across the world of women’s sport, in particular from female Olympians.
This included British sprinter Hunt, who used her post-race interview at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Sunday to criticise the advert.
On Tuesday, she then appeared on GMB where she doubled down on her criticism and highlighted the potential negative consequences of Sweeney’s actions.
‘I think 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 said.
Amy Hunt has doubled down on her criticism of Sydney Sweeney after the actress posed naked in a betting advert
‘When we see the stats of 64 per cent of young girls drop out of exercise and sport before they reach the age of 16, 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 park run with your friends.
‘So 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.’
When pressed on whether the advert could impact how men view female athletes, Hunt agreed and added: ‘That was a big thing this year for us with the introduction of new kind of broadcasting regulations, in showing the correct or the more appropriate angles of women competing.
‘And it being an empowering thing, because I want to race and I want to enjoy it and I want to run as fast as possible. So it’s really important to me that I feel comfortable and I show other people that you can feel comfortable.
‘But also we get a choice of what to wear. Like, we’re not kind of forced into wearing the briefs. But yeah, it’s important to show kind of young people that it’s okay to be whoever you want to be, to wear whatever you want to wear, to look however you want to look, and you can achieve your dreams.’
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