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‘The whole thing could just pop off’: South Korean figure skater battles wardrobe malfunction

Eek. (Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Perhaps, next time, two hooks would be a good idea.

Yura Min was on thin ice during the team figure skating short dance when, skating with partner Alexander Gamelin for South Korea, Min experienced a nightmare.

“Five seconds into the routine, my hook came undone,” Min, who was born in California and has dual American and South Korean citizenship, said (via the Detroit Free Press).

Given the athleticism of ice dancing, the hooks on those costumes can come under a lot of stress, and Min had a sinking feeling as it gave way.

“I was like, ‘Oh no!’ ” she said. “If that comes undone, the whole thing could just pop off. I was terrified the entire program.”

She kept skating, albeit it with gritted teeth and while improvising with Gamelin, with her arms held back to keep her top in place in what was only the biggest competition of her life. She was especially vulnerable during her twizzles, a synchronized side-by-side move.

How do Olympic figure skaters master jumps with four rotations? (Video: Billy Tucker, Anna Rothschild/The Washington Post)

“It started to come down so I had to stop my twizzle and pull it back up,” she said (via the Associated Press).

And Tonya Harding thought her broken skate lace was a big deal. Luckily, Min was spared the biggest wardrobe fail this side of Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl halftime show.

“This is my first Olympics, our first program and if my top were to come down, that would have been a disaster” she said. “I was very nervous that the entire thing was going to come off.”

Phew.

Ice skating, in under 60 seconds. (Video: Victoria Walker, Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

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‘The whole thing could pop off’: South Korea skater battles wardrobe malfunction

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