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Australian Sports Commission chief executive Kieren Perkins says he was "horrified" by the sight of three-time Olympic equestrian Shane Rose appearing in a mankini, describing the incident as setting a poor example.
Rose, who has won three Olympic medals, wore the attire during a fancy-dress showjumping event last weekend, prompting Equestrian Australia (EA) to launch an investigation after a complaint was made to the governing body.
He was stood down from competition by EA but eventually cleared of wrongdoing after being judged not to have breached the sport's code of conduct.
Perkins said Rose was ignorant of the standing Olympians have as role models.
"I was actually horrified," he told ABC TV's Offsiders.
"I know there's been a narrative that it's a good old Aussie bloke just having a little bit of fun.
"But what those pictures didn't show you is the pictures I saw, which is of … a 50-year-old man, semi-naked, jumping a horse over jumps at a community event surrounded by people of all ages.
"I'm sure what we've learned is that role models need to pay close attention to the impact they're having on everyone around them and think about what that means for not only themselves, but their sport as a whole.
"I hope we never see a mankini in public in that kind of environment again."
Perkins, regarded as one of Australia's greatest Olympians, conceded he might be viewed as a "stick in the mud" for taking offence to Rose's behaviour.
But he said Rose needed to be mindful of the example he set to the public.
"We have to acknowledge … that when you are an elite athlete, when you are a medallist and when you're going for an Olympic Games, you do have a broader impact on the community than the average human being walking down the street, who does not get the attention and does not have the ability to impact the media," Perkins said.
"I certainly hope … everyone will be having lots of detailed conversations about what is in athlete agreements and what it is exactly people have signed up to when they accept government funding to compete, which Mr Rose has."
Perkins, who won back-to-back gold medals in the 1,500 metres freestyle at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, would not be drawn on whether Rose should have been ruled out of selection for the Paris Games.
"I wouldn't want to speculate as to whether or not it should have cost him his Games berth," he said.
"I think that most of us would agree that career-damaging impact of something like this is probably not the appropriate measure to take, as Equestrian [Australia] did.
"I just hope lessons are being learned and we don't see it again."
Earlier this week, Rose told the ABC he did not intend to offend anyone when wearing the mankini at the unofficial equestrian event.
"I'm sorry if I overstepped the mark," he said.
"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."
Rose won silver in team eventing at both the 2008 (Beijing) and 2020 (Tokyo) Olympics.
He also claimed bronze in the same event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.