Sponsor pledges ‘mankinis’ after Olympian stood down

FILE PHOTO: Equestrian Shane Rose of Australia on his horse Virgil competes. REUTERS/Molly Darlington/File photo

SYDNEY—The sponsor of an equestrian event in Australia has promised to give every spectator a “mankini” next year after three-time Olympic medalist Shane Rose was stood down from competition for wearing the revealing garment earlier this month.

The 50-year-old, who hopes to represent Australia at this year’s Paris Olympics, wore the g-string inspired by the comedy film “Borat” at an unofficial fancy dress show-jumping event at Wallaby Hill in the Southern Highlands south of Sydney.

Equestrian Australia made the decision to stand down Rose, a silver medalist at the Beijing and Tokyo Olympics and winner of a bronze in Rio, while they conducted a review of the incident after complaints about the team eventer’s risque attire.

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Rose, who was inundated with support from Australia’s equestrian community, initially posted an apology on his Facebook page but later replaced it with the following message:

“It is not my intention to have this issue escalated any more so my previous post has been removed.”

Sponsors Bowral Kubota, an agriculture equipment dealership, on Monday posted a picture of Rose in the offending costume and said it would be making an unusual donation for the 2025 event.

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“Next year at the Wallaby Hill Extravaganza, to embrace Shane’s sense of humor, we will be donating a MANKINI to all spectators,” the company said on its Facebook page.

“And to support Men’s Health, we will be donating A$100 ($65.35) for each spectator who has a sense of humor and tries to outdo Shane,” it added. —REUTERS