The US actor Sydney Sweeney is facing a backlash from female Olympians and other athletes, who have accused her of demeaning and sexualising women’s sports by appearing in a controversial advert for a sports prediction company.

In the viral commercial for Novig, which was viewed more than 22 million times in the first two days of its release, Sweeney’s nude body is covered by footballs, basketballs, and other sports equipment, as she tells users they can bet on “just sports”. After saying “sports” nine times, she appears topless on a pool table, before saying: “You can’t trade this, I just look good here.”

The advert has led to a storm of protest led by the British sprinter Amy Hunt, who won four European championship gold medals last month. After finishing fourth in the 200m at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Sunday evening, Hunt said: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like: 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”

That was a reference to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s winning time of 21.47 seconds, the fourth-fastest women’s 200m, and Hunt went on to reveal the painful realities she and other sports stars faced. “When you’re a woman in sport, it’s not pretty,” she said. “It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy all the time, definitely.

“There’s some low moments. Even turning up to this championship, my period started yesterday, so that’s not really ideal, and that’s not ever what you try to really plan for.”

The British Olympic cycling gold medallist Sophie Capewell was also deeply critical of the advert. “Imagine a world where sexualised representation isn’t the most popular way of seeing women in sport,” Capewell said on social media.

In Australia, there was also widespread fury with the four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus leading the charge. “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” she wrote. “Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity.

“How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”

Hundreds of athletes took inspiration from the American gymnast Gracie Kramer, who posted footage of her competing under the message “this is what a woman in sport looks like” on an Instagram post that was liked more than a million times.

Sweeney appeared to respond to the criticism by posting a series of images of prominent female and male athletes posing naked for magazine shoots, including Serena Williams and the footballer Megan Rapinoe and the basketball player Sue Bird.

The public relationship consultant Mark Borkowski, who has worked with everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Diego Maradona, said he felt the advert was “cynical soft porn”, but that the controversy would benefit Novig “given the number of eyeballs on it”.

Borkowski said: “Sex still sells. And her sexuality, the outrage, the culture war argument gets you one thing: enormous reach.”

Borkowksi also questioned whether Sweeney, who has starred in several successful TV series and films including Euphoria, The White Lotus and The Housemaid, may one day regret her decision. “Sweeney will make a lot of money over a short span of time,” he said. “But often it is about how your brand sustains over the years, not in the first flourish. And this sort of promotion can come back to haunt people.

“She’s clearly got assets and she exploits them. But women sometimes struggle to be taken seriously as they get older because they’ve ploughed this line. She is making money in a Kardashian way.”

The advert has been defended by Jacob Fortinsky, the founder and chief executive of Novig, which launched last month. “Sydney is great at captivating audiences and being the centre of attention,” he said. “In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse.”

Fortinsky also pushed back against criticisms of the adult nature of the content, pointing out that Novig is restricted to users aged 21 and older. He added that Sweeney had approached the company about an equity partnership and helped to craft its message.

This is not the first time an advert featuring Sweeney has attracted controversy. Last year American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign used a play on “jeans” and “genes”, including references to the blue-eyed actor’s inherited traits, sparked a culture war, with some saying it invoked eugenics.

Several months after the controversy erupted, Sweeney said she had been unaware of it as she had been filming Euphoria. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together,” she said. “I’m against hate and divisiveness.”