Australian boxer Damien Hooper says he's proud he wore a T-shirt bearing the Aboriginal flag into the ring for his London Olympics opener despite possible sanctions over the stunt.
Hooper produced a blistering final round of his light heavyweight bout to overcome Marcus Browne of the US 13-11, but all the post-fight talk was about his wardrobe.
Asked about his motives for wearing the T-shirt, which goes against Olympic protocols, Hooper said: "What do you reckon? I'm Aboriginal, I'm representing my culture, not only my country but all my people as well.
"That's what I wanted to do and I'm happy I did it."
The move breaks the Australia team rule of wearing the official uniform at all times, and could be against the International Olympic charter which prevents political statements at the Games.
"We will talk to Damien and counsel him against doing it again," Australian team media director Mike Tancred said.
"He intends to apologise to (Australian team chef de mission) Nick Green for his actions but there is the potential for the IOC to look at this incident as a possible breach of the Olympic Charter and they could take action."
It is understood the IOC is happy to let the AOC handle the matter and counsel Hooper.
When asked if he had considered the possibility he could be sanctioned Hooper said he hadn't thought about it.
"I was just thinking about my family and that's what really matters to me," he said.
"Look what it just did - it just made my whole performance a lot better with that whole support behind me.
"I'm not saying that at all that I don't care (about a possible sanction), I'm just saying that I'm very proud of what I did."
As for the fight, Hooper said he stuck with the plan to ease his way into the contest, and was never too concerned despite trailing 6-5 heading into the final round.
"I thought I would have been a lot more sharper than that, I felt awesome, but he was a good opponent as well.
"He wasn't going to let me walk straight over him which I did in the last round.
"I could see it in his eyes and hid body language that he didn't want to be there."
Hooper will next fight Russian Egor Mekhontcev.
Meanwhile flyweight Jackson Woods' Olympics campaign is over after he lost to Algerian Samir Brahimi 14-12.
