Embarrassing Wardrobe Malfunctions These Athletes Wish Didn’t Happen
For athletes, their work uniforms are some of the most important parts of the game. They can't compete without wearing the proper attire. There are times when some item these players are wearing completely malfunctions. For whatever the reason, some of our favorite athletes have faced the embarrassment of a total wardrobe fail. It's quite perplexing when it happens. For example, how does one's shoe rip in half at the start of a game, causing a knee injury? Stick around... you're in for a real treat.
Play Through The Wear And Tear
Back when LeBron James was still a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA switched equipment providers to Nike. The new jerseys were beautiful, but there seemed to be a few minor problems with them.
As elegant as the jerseys appeared, they were just as easily tarnished. Here's a prime example of what we mean. James, who is determined to play through a lot, didn't even notice the split going down his back. The announcers sure got a good laugh out of this one.
The Washington Who??
Aren't cheerleaders supposed to be an extension of the team? Don't they provide unconditional support and bring in more attention to your franchise? We suppose those involved with this Washington Redskins incident didn't get that memo.
The design team behind these awfully spelled cheerleader jackets needs to take a look in the mirror. What on earth are "redsikins?" Perhaps, this was the first step towards changing the team name, which some fans have been asking to happen for quite a while.
That's Not Supposed To Happen...
This must have been a terribly embarrassing moment for Italian swimmer Flavia Zoccari. An unexpected split going down where the sun doesn't shine isn't something anyone asks for, but unfortunately, these things happen at the strangest moments.
This specific occasion caused her to get disqualified from her scheduled competition! It's not her fault that the uniform couldn't keep her strong body under wraps. What makes it worse is that this happened at the Mediterranean Games. She was left in tears.
We Think You Should Spell That The Right Way
Considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, to take the ice, Wayne Gretzky is the Michael Jordan of hockey. He's the one that gave us the famous quote "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
With a playing career that spanned from 1978-1999, you would think that he got more respect than this. Whoever stitched this jersey should be ashamed of themselves. You don't misspell greatness like this, even if it is only one letter they switched up. "Gretkzy" is not the same as "Gretzky."
Pants Down, Man Down!
This skier in this photo is Sweden's Henrik Harlaut. The Getty photo caption reads that he was competing in the men's freestyle skiing slopestyle finals during the Sochi Winter Olympics. The only thing we see him competing with is himself so he doesn't fall!
How much bad luck is that to arrive at the finals during the Winter Olympics only to fall over thanks to your pants coming down? We're sorry it had to go down this way, Harlaut.
Flesh For The Win...
The women's Colombian cycling team in 2014 sure had on interesting-looking uniforms. When these outfits were revealed, many people were left scratching their heads. Whoever the mastermind was behind this probably didn't think it through all the way.
This is a different type of wardrobe malfunction but it still qualifies. The flesh-colored suits will certainly play a trick on you at first glance. It's only when you look for more than two seconds that you realize these women aren't sans clothes in certain areas.
Big Mistake Here
We apologize to anyone from the Philippines if they see this. This mishap might take a second to realize at first glance, and especially if it isn't your native land. But rest assured the malfunction is there.
Take a look at the flag this sprinter Kayla Richardson is holding behind her back. Now, get a load of the flag located on the corner of her jersey. The colors or flip-flopped! How didn't someone catch this flag debacle before the races began?
Wait, Number 12?
Everyone knows that Michael Jordan wears the number 23. At one point, he elected to don 45 after returning from his retirement, but then he realized the power is in 23 so he switched back. On a night where his Chicago Bulls played the Orlando Magic, someone stole his jersey.
As a result, Jordan had to wear this strange number 12. This is a malfunction because who doesn't bring extra uniforms, especially for their best player?
Another Split Down The Middle
The last athlete who suffered a uniform tear down her backside ended up getting disqualified for a pretty big race. This time, British bobsledder Gillian Cooke was more fortunate at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
As she bent over before the start of the race, Cooke ended up mooning all those watching. For this to happen right before she took off must have been quite embarrassing. Thankfully, she and her partner still qualified and she was sitting down during the race.
Your Anaheim Angees
Spelling the wrong name on jerseys seems to happen more than we thought. This time it happened to the Anaheim Angels or the "Angees" if you will. The part that isn't fair is that all of your teammates have on the correct jersey while you sit back with the obscurity.
Adam Riggs only played a total of 61 major league games but somehow became the victim of this misspelled jersey. Sometimes, you just can't explain these things.
Forgetting Where You Are
At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian speedskater Olga Graf wasn't expected to be one to medal. However, she did and with that, she also wasn't expecting to show so much skin. After winning, Graf unzipped her uniform pretty far down, but thankfully nothing slipped out.
"I totally forgot," Graf started. "We have very good suits and they are very tight. ... You just want to breathe and you want to take off your suit. Only afterward did I realize that maybe this video will appear on YouTube. But I don't think it will be so bad."
The Only Way To Stop Zion
In a marquee matchup between sworn rivals, Duke and North Carolina, freshman phenom Zion Williamson dribbled the ball to an untimely injury. Only seconds after the game began with tons of important people in attendance to see the young star shine, the Duke player's shoe ripped in half, forcing an injury.
"The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance," Nike said. "While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue." After this happened, many urged Williamson to sit out the remainder of the season to protect his NBA stock, but he didn't listen once he recovered from the resulting knee injury.
Malfunction At The Right Time
Many of these malfunctions occur during competition. Thankfully, for Stephanie Gilmore, she only had to face a moment of embarrassment during a photoshoot. In 2014, Gilmore took some shots for Vogue when she almost lost her top.
She had quick reflexes and prevented herself from getting exposed but it was a close call, if you can't already tell from the look on her face. Vogue should have called the shoot "When catching waves turns into catching your top."
Another One Gets Ripped Off
Much like LeBron James, NBA player Ben Simmons is a pretty big boy. His huge size probably had something to do with his jersey not only tearing but getting ripped off!
In this scenario, a player grabbed onto Simmons and accidentally tore the jersey right off of him. Was it really an accident? We don't know, but Simmons walked over to the referee to complain that there wasn't a foul called on his jersey getting torn off of him.
He Went Balls Out At The London Olympics!
At the London Olympics 1,500 meter final, one runner by the name of Henrik Ingebrigtsen got a few surprises. He might have finished in fifth place, but he managed to set a new Norwegian record for that event, a nice consolation for losing.
However, as he came bursting through the finish line, something else was busting out. Track and field uniforms are already tight and practically painted on to your skin, how much more embarrassing could it have been for him?
What's She Wearing?!
In 2010 at the Women's French Open, Venus Williams had a battle on her hands. Williams has her own athletic clothing line which she chooses to sport all the time during competition in order to bring more publicity to it. This day, she chose to wear flesh-toned shorts under her tennis outfit.
Whenever she would strive for a hit or the wind blew, it looked like she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She and her sister Serena seem to always wear things that garner a second look, like that all-black catsuit Serena wore.
Bad Stitch Job
Mustafa Shakur was playing in the developmental league before the Washington Wizards decided to call him unexpectedly to play for them. Due to the unexpected debut, they had to make his jersey very quickly. There were some spacing and sizing issues in the process.
"His number and last name were stitched on at the last second by a Wizards employee," Ball Don't Lie reported. "And while the stitching held up, it was clear the Wizards employee didn't exactly hold up the number placement to any sort of scrutiny, because the number '22' was a little down and to the left."
The Washington Natinals
This is a game from April 17, 2009, where Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn got misspelled jerseys with the "o" missing from Nationals. It didn't seem to bother the players this time around but the providers of the jersey were deeply sorry. They should be if they don't want to be out a job in the future.
"All of us at Majestic Athletic want to apologize to both the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for accidentally omitting the 'o' in two Nationals jerseys," Majestic Athletic president Jim Pisani later said in a statement distributed at Nationals Park.
More Zipper Mishaps
With one of our earlier zipper mishaps, the athlete accidentally pulled down her zipper to a length not suitable for all to see. This situation is a bit different. Christopher Spring, a bobsledder, might have been wearing a suit that was just a little bit too tight.
That's why he had to catch an image of the big opening the zipper created, showcasing his belly! This happened the day before his Olympic race, but he still managed to get good use of his suit.
What Else Would You Expect
Have you ever watched a lingerie football game? If not, this image might not seem to familiar to you. They now refer to this as the Legends Cup, and it's a championship game that has women playing in helmets, pads, and their undergarments.
They play full-contact American football, but during the roughhousing, you can expect for some of their lingerie to get disrupted somehow. This is a prime example of that. Giving crowds full moons, one tackle at a time.
