Rice apologised and deleted her comment from Twitter

Triple Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Stephanie Rice has lost a sponsorship deal with Jaguar after making a homophobic remark on Twitter.

The Australian, who claimed three titles in Beijing, posted the comment after her country's 41-39 win over South Africa in Saturday's rugby Test.

Rice, 22, was heavily criticised for the comment and later apologised.

But Jaguar Australia general manager Kevin Goult confirmed the company was ending its association with her.

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."

Rice is the latest sportsperson to pay a heavy price for a misguided comment on social networking site Twitter.

England cricketer Kevin Pietersen was fined an undisclosed sum on Monday for a Twitter tirade which followed a decision to drop him from the one-day team.

And Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas was fined £1,000 by the club for his comments about England national selector Geoff Miller.

Last month, Rice pulled out of Australia's squad for next month's Commonwealth Games to have surgery on a shoulder injury.

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