Winter Olympics skater lost points for flashing nipple

February 9, 2022

Gabriella Papadakis suffered wardrobe heartbreak and lost points as her nipple was exposed during her ice dancing routine with partner Guillaume Cizeron at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

It is a nightmare athletes hope to avoid: a top falling down and revealing your nipple to millions around the world.

This was the upsetting reality for superstar French ice skater Papadakis, whose nipple emerged as she and Cizeron aimed for the gold medal before they were docked precious points due to the clothing malfunction.

At the Gangeneung Ice Arena, partner Cizeron twirled around her during their performance, loosening her top inadvertently which subsequently exposed her nipple.

Just 22 years of age and one of the favourites to win gold, Papadakis described the unfortunate mishap as her ‘worst nightmare’.

“My costume opened up,” Papadakis said afterwards.

“It was difficult. It’s the first time that something like that happened.

“I tried to stay focused and finish without anything else happening.”

Papadakis and Cizeron were left in second place at the halfway point in the competition after receiving an incredible 81.93 score from the judges – despite the incident.

According to Cizeron, the incident cost them points as the duo went on to secure the silver medal.

“It’s just frustrating to miss a few points just because of a costume issue,” Cizeron explained.

“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.

“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.”

Papadakis managed to bounce back on the second day of the event, beating her own world record in the lyrical free dance.

Pakadakis and Cizeron posted a total of 205.28 to finish with silver as Canada duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir claimed the gold medal.