Homophobic 'tweet' costs Rice sponsorship deal

Stephanie Rice, Australia's triple Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, has lost a sponsorship deal with luxury car maker Jaguar after making a homophobic remark on Twitter.

The 22-year-old, who claimed gold in the 200metre medley, 400m medley and 4*200m freestyle in Beijing, tweeted "Suck on that f****ts" after Australia's narrow win over South Africa in Saturday's rugby union Test.

Rice was heavily criticised for the comment and later apologised.

But the car manufacturer released a statement late yesterday, in which Kevin Goult said: "Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010.

"The terms of the agreement and its termination remain confidential. We wish Stephanie success for the future."

Last month Rice withdrew from Australia's Commonwealth Games squad in order to have surgery on a persistent shoulder injury.