FRENCH ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis had her breast exposed to millions of Winter Olympics viewers worldwide after suffering a wardrobe malfunction during her routine.
The 22-year-old skater and partner Guillaume Cizeron, 23, were competing in the short dance when her dress somehow got unclipped at the back.
EPA Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron were in the middle of their routine when disaster struck
EPA French skater Gabriella Papadakis had her left breast exposed when her dress became unclipped
Papadakis tried in vain to cover up and eventually managed to clip her top back together.
Incredibly, the duo managed to shrug off the distraction and record a score of 81.93 - enough to move up to second behind Canada's Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue.
Moir and Virtue's 83.67 broke their own world record but it was their French rivals who had fans talking.
Social media users were quick to praise Papadakis for bravely carrying on, while others blasted broadcasters for showing a slow-mo replay.
Gabriella Papadakis skating a full short program with a wardrobe malfunction is true heroism — sham corb (@samcorb) February 19, 2018
Ummmm, just saying, a director at the OBS (Olympic Broadcasting System) totally chose those slow motion replays. That nip slip of Gabriella Papadakis at the end did not have to be included. How very disrespectful. — Kyle Shewfelt (@kyleshew) February 19, 2018
Ummmm did I just see Gabriella Papadakis' nipple??? #figureskateing pic.twitter.com/wlrKNZ8bj3 — J Alani (@Jolade_) February 19, 2018
I feel so mortified for Gabriella Papadakis. What a nightmare. — Elizabeth Cotignola (@LaDiavolina) February 19, 2018
I feel so bad for Gabriella Papadakis with that wardrobe malfunction during their ice dance short program. But I applaud her for pushing through and never giving up till the end! #olympics #PyeongChang2018 — Ⓜ️ark Christopherr (@MCAlviz) February 19, 2018
Why... why did they show so much replay? Like... what producer's getting fired today. — Sara (@archivalistic) February 19, 2018
I so feel for Gabriella Papadakis. You work your whole lives for this moment. World, let’s not let their performance boil down to a wardrobe malfunction. #PapadakisCizeron #Olympics2018 pic.twitter.com/kXKnhrVIsY — Lien Yeung (@LienY) February 19, 2018
Papadakis is the second skater to suffer a wardrobe malfunction after Yura Min's Olympic debut was hit by a similar issue.
The South Korean star's skimpy red dress slipped just seconds into her short dance routine, threatening to reveal just a little too much to the millions watching around the world.
EPA Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron managed to move into second place despite the slip-up
AFP or licensors Brave Gabriella Papadakis was hailed for continuing her routine
EPA The French duo are well in the hunt for a medal despite the wardrobe malfunction
As she was spun around by partner Alexander Gamelin she had to keep adjusting her red top to prevent showing off more than was intended.
At one point the top slipped just a little too far but instead of going into a flap Yura just carried on with her well-rehearsed routine.
EPA Gabriella Papadakis managed to clip her top back up towards the end of the routine
EPA Broadcast chiefs apparently decided to show slow-mo footage of the slip
EPA Yura Min suffered a wardrobe malfunction in the figure skating competition last week
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Winter Olympics 2018 Overexposed: Gabriella Papadakis and Winter Olympic wardrobe malfunctions At recent Games there have been a series of wardrobe woes and costume mishaps … with the French ice dancer being just the latest Gabriella Papadakis, right, and Guillaume Cizeron performing in Pyeongchang. Photograph: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
The French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron have made Winter Olympics headlines for all the wrong reasons – because of a wardrobe malfunction that left Papadakis overexposed on the ice.
“I felt it right away and I prayed,” Papadakis said after the top of her costume became unhooked and slipped. “It was pretty distracting, kind of my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics. I told myself: ‘I don’t have a choice. I have to keep going.’ And that’s what we did. I think we can be proud of ourselves being able to deliver a great performance with that happening.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest France’s Guillaume Cizeron performs with France’s Gabriella Papadakis as the back fastening of her costume comes undone. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images
The US broadcaster NBC, mindful of the furore when Janet Jackson was accidentally exposed at the Super Bowl half-time show in 2004 and a water polo player suffered similar misfortune at London 2012, issued a statement explaining “once a competitor’s brief wardrobe issue became evident, we purposely used wider camera shots and carefully selected replays to keep the issue obscured”.
Papadakis and Cizeron are far from being alone in the history of costume disasters at the Winter Olympics. Indeed, their misfortune isn’t even the first one on the ice in the Pyeongchang Games.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yura Min and Alexander Gamelin of South Korea. Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA
On day three the South Korean skater Yura Min’s costume came undone at the back. She later tweeted: “Despite the wardrobe malfunction, I had an amazing time competing in my home country! I promise to sew myself in for the individual event.” She also posted a video clip of her joking about the way she had covered herself up, with the single word: “Oopsie.”
It isn’t just in the ice rink that athletes experience problems. At Sochi in 2014 Henrik Harlaut’s trousers headed south during qualification for the men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle.
Fortunately his underwear held up – with the Swede claiming he was used to performing like that anyway: “I don’t find it difficult. I’ve skied like that the past 10 years. It’s been my style for a while. I’m pretty comfortable like that.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut, and his pants, compete in Sochi. Photograph: Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Harlaut completes his run. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
It was also a costume mishap at Sochi that introduced the Winter Olympics to the phrase “Powerbelly”. The Canadian bobsledder Christopher Spring found the uniform he had been given to compete in was no match for his tummy, leading him to tweet: “I tried on my race suit ahead of tomorrow’s 2man Olympic race and its a little … er tight. #powerbelly”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christopher Spring’s Olympic costume reveals a bit too much. Photograph: Twitter/BobTeamSpring
The textbook “wardrobe malfunction” usually involves involuntary exposure, but the speed skater Olga Graf at the the Sochi Games is the exception. Having just secured bronze in the 3,000m, Graf absent-mindedly unzipped the front of her skating suit, having forgotten that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
As the realisation dawned, she clutched the suit closed and seemed to apologise to the crowd. “I totally forgot, we have very good suits and they are very tight. You just want to breathe and you want to take off your suit,” she said afterwards.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Russia’s Olga Graf celebrates after winning a bronze in Sochi. Photograph: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
Even the smallest of costume mishaps can severely impede an athlete. At Vancouver 2010, Japanese figure skater Nobunari Oda became the victim of his shoelaces. Halfway through his free skate they broke and came undone. He approached the judges and was given three minutes to re-prepare and continue but the damage had been done.
“It came untied, it’s my fault, I feel guilty for myself for doing this. I will try to make sure it does not happen again,” he said afterwards. He had been in fourth place going into the routine but slipped to seventh.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nobunari Oda shows the judges his broken lace as he performs. Photograph: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nobunari Oda’s broken laces. Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters
With that in mind, Papadakis and Cizeron can perhaps feel lucky about their own moment in the spotlight. Somehow the French couple kept things together in Pyeongchang, producing a score of 81.93 points that left them second behind Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Papadakis and Cizeron survived the mishap, and are currently well-placed for a medal. Photograph: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
French figure skater Gabriella Papadakis has spoken about her “worst nightmare” coming true during the 2018 Winter Olympics after suffering a wardrobe malfunction during her performance with partner Guillaume Cizeron.
The 22-year-old had just started her routine with Cizeron when a lift by the Frenchman resulted in Papadakis’ dress becoming undone and exposing her breast, something that she admitted after that she “felt right away and prayed” hadn’t happened.
But rather than allow the malfunction to wreck their Olympic dreams, Papadakis valiantly continued the performance – and was rewarded for her bravery with second place heading into Tuesday’s free dance.
Winter Olympics crashes and falls
14 show all Winter Olympics crashes and falls
1/14 Xu Mengtao of China crashes in the freestyle skiing Reuters
2/14 Britain's Alex Tilley crashes during the Women's Giant Slalom 1st run EPA
3/14 Aimee Fuller of Great Britain crashes in the Snowboard Ladies' Slopestyle Final Getty Images
4/14 Samantha Wells of Australia falls off balance in the freestyle skiing
5/14 Elise Christie of Great Britain crashes during the Ladies' 500m Short Track Speed Skating final on day four of the games Getty
6/14 Japan's Yuto Totsuka falls during run 2 of the final of the men's snowboard halfpipe at the Phoenix Park AFP/Getty
7/14 Emily Sweeney of the US recovers after her crash in the women’s singles luge competition Reuters
8/14 Sweeney’s crash as it happened BBC
9/14 Russia's Pavel Trikhichev falls during the Men's Alpine Combined Downhill AFP/Getty
10/14 Samuel Girard of Canada falls during a short track speed skating event Reuters
11/14 Mikhail Kolyada from Russia stumbles during his routine in the figure skating Getty
12/14 Russia's Denis Spitsov, Russia's Andrey Larkov and Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger recover following a collision during the men's 15km + 15km cross-country skiathlon AFP/Getty
13/14 Emina Malagich from Russia, Petra Jaszapati of Hungary and Charlotte Gilmartin of Great Britain crash during the Ladies 500m Short Track Speed Skating qualifying Getty
14/14 Shoko Ono of Japan falls on top of Dominique Ruegg of Switzerland during the Women's Ice Hockey Preliminary Round Getty
Once the pair had finished the routine and Papadakis had covered herself back up, she waved to both the crowd and judges before leaving the ice with an exasperated look on her face, and she said afterwards that it was one of the worst outcomes possible while competing at the Winter Olympics.
Papadakis was rewarded for her performance with second place despite the incident (Getty)
“It was pretty distracting,” Papadakis said. “My worst nightmare at the Olympics. I told myself ‘you have to keep going’.
“That’s what we did, and we have to be proud of ourselves, delivering a great performance with that happening.”
Unfortunately, part of the figure skating scoring system is judged on costume and the aesthetics of the performance, meaning that the French pair were penalised for the wardrobe malfunction. But taking that into account, their score of 81.93 points could easily have surpassed the leaders’ total of 83.67, which was posted by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada.
“It’s just frustrating to miss a few points because of a costume issue. It is not what we get ready for when we train,” Cizeron added.
The incident is the second to happen at the Pyeongchang Games, with South Korea’s Yura Min suffering a similar dress failure just seconds into her routine with Alexander Gamelin that resulted in her readjusting her outfit several times while completing her routine.
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