E-Paper
Shooter Mark squirms under ‘mankini’ bet
Australian Olympic shooting gold medallist Russell Mark is set to parade in a lime-green “mankini” made famous by the movie character “Borat” at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics as the penalty for losing a bet.
Australian Olympic shooting gold medallist Russell Mark is set to parade in a lime-green “mankini” made famous by the movie character “Borat” at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics as the penalty for losing a bet.
Mark, who won double trap gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver in Sydney, pledged to wear the skimpy swimsuit worn by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the 2006 film if Melbourne-based Carlton lost to St. Kilda in the Austr-alian Football League.
Carlton suffered a shock four-goal defeat in the match on Monday night and Mark owned up to making the bet on local radio. “Oh, I must’ve been intoxicated. Carlton promise so much and just deliver so little. It kills me,” the burly 48-year-old said today.
“Anyway, a lot of people would think a mankini might look better than the uniform they’ve nominated for us, so I don’t know if it’s a bad thing.”
The one-piece swimsuit would certainly stand out among the other Australian athletes, who will be kitted out in stodgy green blazers and white slacks which have been described as “retro”.
“Age is the problem. Russell’s days of being a model are long gone, and we don’t think it would be a good look for the team to have Russell in a mankini,” said an Aussie Olympic Committee spokesman.
