Skye Nicolson is an Australian professional boxer from Meadowbrook. She won Commonwealth Games gold in 2018, competed at the Tokyo Olympics and won the WBC featherweight world title in 2024. A southpaw, she became a professional boxer in 2022.
Role at the time: Professional boxer; world champion
Challenged the characterization
Statement summary
Skye Nicolson argued the objection to the Novig ad is about using sex to sell sport, not about athletes looking attractive.
“There’s a big difference between looking ‘sexy’ because you do sport compared to use sex to sell ‘sport’. There is nothing wrong with looking good and doing sport and there’s nothing wrong with embracing your femininity while also being a badass athlete.”
Nicolson distinguishes "looking sexy because you do sport" from "using sex to sell sport," disputing how the ad’s critics and defenders alike are framing the issue rather than issuing a blanket condemnation or defense.
Sydney Sweeney, an equity holder in sports-prediction platform Novig, starred in a nude ad campaign that female athletes say sexualizes women's sport. Novig's CEO and a Guardian columnist publicly disputed that characterization.
