SOCHI, Russia (AP) - A moment of triumph nearly turned embarrassing for Russian speedskater Olga Graf.
The 30-year-old gave the home country a reason to cheer Sunday, winning Russia’s first medal when she took a surprising bronze in the women’s 3,000 meters Sunday.
She even got a note of praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When Graf’s time flashed on the scoreboard - 4 minutes, 3.47 seconds was a personal best - the crowd at Adler Arena erupted in cheers. She whooped it up on her warm-down lap, then unzipped her skin-tight suit right down to the belly button.
She was wearing nothing underneath.
“I totally forgot,” Graf said sheepishly through a translator. “We have very good suits and they are very tight. … You just want to breathe and you want to take off your suit.”
When she realized her faux pas, Graf quickly zipped the suit back up with a mortified smile.
“Only afterward,” she said, “did I realize that maybe this video will appear on YouTube. But I don’t think it will be so bad.”
- Paul Newberry - Twitter https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963
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Associated Press reporters will be filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: https://apne.ws/1c3WMiu
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