South Korean skater Yura Min’s Olympic debut on Sunday was marred by a performer’s nightmare: A wardrobe malfunction that occurred seconds into her short dance figure skating routine that threatened to reveal just a little too much to the watching world.
But instead of stopping the show in a panic, Min gamely continued her performance with partner Alexander Gamelin, improvising as she went so as to prevent her top from slipping off her shoulders.
Min, who was competing in the figure skating team event, was lauded by viewers for performing — and recovering from the wardrobe near-disaster— “with class.”
Min, a dual citizen of South Korea and the United States, told the Detroit Free Press that the hook on her top “came undone” seconds into the routine.
“I was like, ‘Oh no!’” she told the paper. “If that comes undone, the whole [outfit] could just pop off. I was terrified the entire program.”
Min was determined not to stop in the midst of the performance, however, and instead changed her movements so her arms would be kept back, preventing her costume from falling off.
She only paused once, during the twizzles (synchronized side-by-side spins), when her top began slipping off her shoulder. “It started to come down so I had to stop my twizzle and pull it back up,” she told the AP.
Min managed to finish the routine with her outfit still in place. She and Gamelin, who will compete together again at the individual ice dance competition later this month, received 51.97 points for their performance and finished ninth out of 10 teams.
Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the reigning world champions, came in first with 80.51 points.
Correction: Min and Gamelin will be competing in the individual ice dance competition later this month and not the individual pairs event, as was stated in an earlier version of this story.
