WARNING, CONTAINS NUDITY An ice skating star had a moment to forget during her performance at the Winter Olympics, which she later described as her “worst nightmare”
Gabriella Papadakis lost vital points in her chase for an Olympic gold medal after her nipple was accidentally exposed mid-performance.
Competing in the ice dance event at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics with former ice skating partner Guillaume Cizeron, the 30-year-old suffered the ultimate wardrobe malfunction.
At the Gangneung Ice Arena, Cizeron twirled around Papadakis, which caused her top to accidentally loosen, resulting in the subsequent reveal of her nipple. Papadakis and Cizeron were one of the favourites to win gold, and she described the error as her “worst nightmare”.
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Speaking after the performance, she said: “My costume opened up. It was difficult. It’s the first time that something like that happened. I tried to stay focused and finish without anything else happening.”
The French pair received a stunning 81.93 score from the judges despite the malfunction which placed them in second place at the halfway point.
Cizeron later claimed that the accident caused them to miss out on vital points as they went on to claim the silver medal in the event with a final score of 205.28.
The 31-year-old explained: “It’s just frustrating to miss a few points just because of a costume issue. It’s not what we get ready for when we train. But you know, I’m so proud that we managed to pull out a program like that even with a difficulty like this.
“And we just look forward to a new day tomorrow and we have our chances to win and we’ll just do our best. The outfit was in our thoughts all along the program, a little bit. I think the twizzles is the only thing that kind of affected us the most because, you know, when you rotate it’s kind of hard to keep your dress on when it’s open.”
Four years later in Beijing, the ice skaters bounced back to finally win gold, beating out Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov who finished with silver.
Having retired in December 2024, Papadakis was set to work for NBC as a commentator for this month’s Winter Olympics but was removed from her role following controversy surrounding her memoir ‘So as Not to Disappear’.
In it, the 30-year-old claimed Cizeron, 31, was “controlling, demanding and critical” throughout their figure skating relationship. The Frenchman insisted his ex-partner added false information in her memoir in denial of the accusations in what he called a “smear campaign” against him.
Cizeron said: “In the face of this smear campaign, I want to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me. The book contains false information, including statements I never made, which I consider serious.”
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He added: “For more than 20 years, I have shown deep respect for Gabriella Papadakis. Despite the gradual erosion of our bond, our relationship was built on equal collaboration and marked by success and mutual support.”
Papadakis told L’Equipe this month: “To my knowledge, in reaction to Guillaume filing a formal notice, which was made public, they (NBC) considered that the perception of my neutrality was compromised and that I could not commentate on the Olympic Games.
“I’m not dealing with it very well, I’ve cried a lot. I was super disappointed because I was just beginning that career as a commentator.”