GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- A wardrobe malfunction hit Olympic ice dance on Monday, as France's Guillaume Cizeron dipped his partner Gabriella Papadakis for their final pose, and her halter-neck dress slipped to expose part of her breast to the audience and those watching live television.
"It was kind of like my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics," Papadakis, who was visibly upset, said afterward.
Papadakis has been practicing in the dress all week, and a member of the coaching staff sews up over the clasps on her neck each time she wears it. In her Olympic debut, the clasps snapped in the second move of the program, when Cizeron grabbed Papadakis by the neck and dipped her. The couple would have lost five points for stopping the routine, so they decided to continue.
"I don't know any other girl who would have finished the performance the way she did, even with the top completely undone," their coach Marie-France Dubreuil said. "She has nerves of steel."
Even with the accident, the French couple scored 81.93 points, good for second place behind Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, but the incident definitely affected their performance. Every time Papadakis twizzled or spun, she could feel the top of her dress pulling away from her, while her partner did his best to keep her dress in place so they could keep going.
"Instead of dancing and being in the moment, they were just trying to keep it together," Dubreuil said. "There was not the freedom of movement they normally have."