South Korean figure skater suffered a wardrobe malfunction 5 seconds into her Olympic debut and handled it with aplomb

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• South Korean figure skater Yura Min had a wardrobe malfunction seconds into her event when a hook came undone on her costume.
• Min said she was “terrified” throughout the event, keeping her arms close to her body to hold her costume up.
• She and her partner, Alexander Gamelin, finished ninth in the team event.

South Korean figure skater Yura Min almost had a horrific start to the Winter Olympics.

Just five seconds into the pair’s team figure skating event, Min, who is American born, had a hook on her wardrobe come undone, putting her in an awkward spot.

Min told The Detroit Free Press’ Jeff Seidel that she was holding up her costume by keeping her arms tight to her body.

“Five seconds into the routine, my hook came undone,” Min said. She said she was “terrified” the entire routine.

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

However, Min handled it with grace, knowing stopping to fix it would only cost her and her partner, Alexander Gamelin.

“I didn’t stop. I went from the beginning to the end. I didn’t stop because you get a deduction if you stop in the middle of a program. In my head, I was thinking, ‘Is it better to stop and fix it and get the deduction or keep going?'”

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

Min and Gamelin finished ninth of 10 skaters.

“We were skating well – you just had to keep everything, well, intact,” Gamelin said.

Though Min and Gamelin are both American-born, Min said the South Korean crowd helped them.

“The second we stepped onto the ice, the fans started to scream and I think we really fed off that energy,” she said. “Even with my costume coming undone, the fans helped us, picked us up.”

Their points in the team event may have suffered, but Min avoided complete disaster.