Aussie shooter in London 2012 'mankini' threat

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) –

Australian shooter Russell Mark (L) and teammate Craig Trembath hold up their gold medals after winning the Men’s Double Trap Pairs event at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March 2006. Veteran Australian shooter Mark has threatened to parade at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in a lime-green “mankini” after losing a bet.

Veteran Australian shooter Russell Mark has threatened to parade at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in a lime-green “mankini” after losing a bet.

The burly 48-year-old said the penalty for losing the wager over the outcome of an Aussie Rules football clash was to don the skimpy bathing suit made famous by the movie “Borat” starring Sacha Baron Cohen.

“I actually did make that statement,” Mark, who won double trap gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver in Sydney, joked on local radio.

“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 such a bad thing.”

Australia’s uniform for the opening ceremony was unveiled this month and got mixed reviews with criticism that the athletes looked like lawn bowlers.

The uniforms feature green jackets with white slacks for men and white knee-length skirts for women and white Dunlop volley shoes.

Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred told reporters a mankini would not be a good look for Mark.

“Age is the problem here. Russell is no spring chicken, his 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,” he said.

“Besides, this will be his sixth Olympics and he is a chance to be named as flag bearer. Imagine the flag bearer out in front of our team in a mankini. And a big butch shooter at that.”