Olympic equestrian suspended for wearing mankini during competition

Australian Olympic equestrian rider Shane Rose has been suspended from competition for wearing a mankini during a show jumping event.

Olympic equestrian rider Shane Rose has been stood down from competition for several days for wearing a mankini during a showjumping event, after concerns were raised about his attire to Equestrian Australia.

The organisation, which runs Australia’s elite equestrian programme has confirmed it stood Rose down after he wore the revealing costume during a fancy dress event last weekend at Wallaby Hill in the Southern Highlands.

Rose said he was amazed by the reaction, after hearing that the story was being reported by the BBC and the South China News.

“I thought I was just having a bit of fun in a dress up competition … certainly things have gone a bit crazy,” Rose said.

Rose said it was an unofficial event and he thought the decision to dress up would not be taken too seriously.

“I didn’t set out to offend anyone and I’m sorry if I overstepped the mark, but I was just having a bit of a laugh and I think if you can’t have a bit of fun in sport then there’s no point in doing it.

“I’ve never worn one [a mankini] before and it was not a very comfortable experience so I can’t imagine I’ll be wearing one anytime soon.”

In a statement on its website, Equestrian Australia said it had an obligation to address the concerns, but insists the 50 year old has not been suspended.

“Concerns were raised to Equestrian Australia and the government sporting agencies regarding Shane Rose’s attire at a recent closed event at Wallaby Hill, images of which were subsequently shared on social media,” it said.

“As with any high performance athlete, Shane is bound by the High Performance and Equestrian Australia Codes of Conduct and Athlete Agreement.”

A decision on any further disciplinary action is expected as early as this week.

“This does not affect his ability to train or otherwise participate in the sport,” Equestrian Australia said.

“Equestrian Australia is dedicated to supporting our athletes in their Olympic campaign and works collaboratively with them to achieve their Olympic dreams.”

A silver and bronze medallist at three Olympic Games, Rose is preparing for the Paris Olympics and is hoping it is a storm in a teacup.

“They [Equestrian Australian] have to go through a process, I’m hoping in the next day or two there’ll be a resolution and I’m hoping it will go in my favour and we can look back on this as a bit of fun so fingers crossed,” he said.

Social media reaction after apology

Rose removed a Facebook post and issued an apology on his personal social media.

“Thank you for the support. It is not my intention to have this issue escalated any more so my previous post has been removed,” he said.

Many of the comments in response to his post were in support of his dress-up during the event, describing Rose as “a larrikin”.

“I feel like this apology is completely unnecessary and come on Equestrian Australia, this is ridiculous!!!”, one said.

“The majority are behind you Shane Rose Eventing,” said another.

This story was first published by the ABC