Sydney Sweeney’s cartoonish provocation has sparked a culture war but let’s just admit sport can be sexy | Emma John

Yes sport is about effort, sweat and inclusivity - but it also turns elite athletes into magnificent specimens of humanity where the aesthetic is part of the appeal

Have you seen the 40-second video that will change the way you think about women's sport, women's bodies, just, you know, women? It's been unavoidable on social media this week - brazen, unapologetic, dominating the algorithm like an AI kitten hacking a banana-bread recipe while lip-syncing to Cardi B. I for one have enjoyed it at least 50 times already.

It starts with some carefully curated passive-aggression - Dear Sydney", Hey Sydney", Respectfully Sydney" - and follows up with clips of what, in its own words, a woman in sport actually looks like". It shows its subject pounding the treadmill or powering down the back straight, flooring a rival with a tackle or a roundhouse kick, lifting weights or throwing herself through the air. It is, inevitably, soundtracked by Dua Lipa. Training Season is getting a serious bump this week.