And the award for best-dressed athlete at the London Olympics opening ceremonies goes to … Russell Mark. How do we know that already? The Australian shooting gold medalist recently lost a bet, and as a result he is required to parade at the opening ceremonies in a lime-green mankini similar to the one Sacha Baron Cohen wore in the movie “Borat” several years ago.
According to the Telegraph, the bet revolved around an Australian rules football match. Mark promised that he would wear the swimsuit if Carlton lost its Australian Football League match to St. Kilda and sure enough — well, you know.
“Oh, I must’ve been intoxicated,” the 48-year-old Mark said Tuesday. “Carlton promise so much and just deliver so little. It kills me.”
“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.”
The uniform he is referring to reportedly includes green blazers and white pants. The outfits have been described as “retro,” and while many athletes may not consider them to be ideal, the Australian Olympic Committee sounds like it is rooting for Mark to bail on the mankini bet.
“Age is the problem here,” one AOC spokesman said. “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.
“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. As we all know the London weather is fickle and we would not want him to catch cold.”
The spokesman delivered his request in a joking manner, but the Borat mankini is no joke. I’m sure there are plenty in Australia who are crossing their fingers Mark doesn’t decide to represent their country in that fashion (no pun intended).
Note: This post also appeared on Medal Detector
