With the summer Olympics in Paris just weeks away, UK intimates brand Bluebella has launched a new campaign featuring the stars of the UK’s Women’s Rugby Sevens squad.

Team GB Rugby Sevens players Jasmine Joyce, Celia Quansah and Ellie Boatman, have joined the lingerie brand’s #StrongIsBeautiful campaign “to encourage girls to be proud of their bodies and keep playing team sports”.

The retailer said its support is backed by data that showed 64% of secondary schoolgirls drop out of all sports before the age of 16 and, for many girls, the reason was “insecurities about their bodies during puberty”.

To reinforce the campaign’s message, the athletes posed in body-revealing lingerie for a training session at Richmond Rugby Club’s pitches in Southwest London.

Bluebella CEO and founder Emily Bendell, said: “We have to change the perception that the strong female form is not ‘feminine’. The idea that strength and femininity do not go together is a really damaging perception for keeping women in sport but also more broadly. 

“We are thrilled that these three players are supporting #StrongIsBeautiful and helping to challenge attitudes, which are sadly still too prevalent.”

Bluebella has been running the #StrongIsBeautiful campaign for the past eight years and the London-based brand has previously worked with female athletes at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the Tokyo games in 2021, and the Women’s FIFA World Cup last year.