A Team GB Paralympian has hit back at Sydney Sweeney’s racy sports ad for presenting a “narrow idea” of what a woman’s body should look like.
Powerlifter Lottie McGuinness responded to the controversial Novig campaign by sharing footage of herself competing alongside the message:
“Respectfully, Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport really look like.”
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The 24-year-old, who has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, said she wanted to demonstrate what women’s bodies are capable of rather than simply how they look, as revealed exclusively to Need To Know.
Lottie, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said: “When I saw an advert presenting such a narrow idea of what a woman’s body should look like, I felt compelled to respond.
“I wanted to show the complete opposite: a woman who doesn’t have a conventional body, who is incredibly strong, and who is proud of that.”
The Euphoria star, 29, appears with little clothing on in the minute-long Novig advert, using strategically placed sporting equipment to cover herself.
The campaign for the sports prediction platform has sparked a backlash from female athletes, with critics accusing it of sexualising women in sport.
Lottie joined the response by reposting footage from a para powerlifting competition in July 2025.
She said: “I shared it again because I wanted to put it alongside the conversation happening around the advert and show people what a woman’s body can actually achieve and show myself lifting and benching heavy weights.
“At that competition, I was competing in para powerlifting, doing what I love and using my body for something incredibly powerful.”
Alongside the footage, she wrote: “Women are truly incredible, and I think it’s important to show young girls that our bodies are capable of so much more than simply being looked at.
“Because the reality of women’s bodies is far more incredible than any advert could show.
“We can be strong. We can be powerful. We can push boundaries. We can lift things that are twice our bodyweight.
“Today, I benched 112kg as a woman in a strength sport.
“This is what my body can do.
“And honestly? I think that’s pretty bloody incredible.”
Lottie competes for Team GB in the women’s up to 61kg category and made her Paralympic debut at Paris 2024, finishing fourth.
But she admitted there was a time when she was ashamed of having dwarfism.
She said: “Growing up, I never imagined that I would become a Paralympian.
“In fact, when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I used to say ‘tall’, because I was ashamed of my condition.
“It was seeing women like Ellie Simmonds competing at the Paralympics that showed me what was possible and gave me the dream of becoming a Paralympian myself.”
Lottie said that experience was why she feels so strongly about the way women’s bodies are represented.
She said: “What worries me is that young girls are still being shown that there is one particular way a woman is supposed to look.
“I want girls to see women who are strong, muscular, disabled, different and completely unapologetic about who they are.
“I don’t want another little girl with a disability growing up wishing she was somebody else.
“I want her to see women like me and think, ‘Maybe I could do that.'”
Lottie also revealed she has faced cruel treatment from strangers because of her appearance.
She said: “Sadly I have to watch where I head out in town, as I will have young men make fun and take photos and mock who I am.
“I’ve learnt to deal with it and I pretend I am Taylor Swift and they are the paparazzi.
“I don’t have a conventional body, and honestly, I don’t wish I did.
“I’m proud of my body because of what it allows me to do.
“It has taken me to a Paralympic Games and allowed me to represent my country.”
Lottie said becoming an elite powerlifter had completely transformed how she viewed herself.
She added: “I spent years wishing my body was different.
“Now I look at it and see the body that allows me to bench over 100kg, compete for my country and become a Paralympian.
“I don’t want to be smaller. I don’t want to hide. I don’t want to look like everybody else.
“I want to be strong, and I want young women to know that strength is something to be proud of.”
Lottie stressed that her response was aimed at the message behind the campaign rather than Sweeney personally.
She said: “It’s not about attacking Sydney Sweeney personally. It’s about the message we put in front of young women.
“I know how much representation can change someone’s life because I’ve lived it.
“Ellie Simmonds gave me the dream of becoming a Paralympian.
“Now I want to be part of that representation for somebody else.
“If a young girl sees me, a disabled woman with a body that looks different, lifting weights and representing her country, and thinks, ‘I could do that too,’ then that’s exactly what I want.”
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