Olympic beach volleyball stars faced wardrobe malfunction after thong incident (2024)

An Olympic beach volleyball star and her Canadian team-mate faced a nightmare ordeal before a crucial semi-final match where they had to rush to find used bikini bottoms

The Canadian beach volleyball team suffered the “most embarrassing moment” of their careers when a bikini bottom mishap left them needing to borrow tiny thongs from nearby dancers.

Beach volleyball stars Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes are two legends of the sport. The pair won the women’s gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships, as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022.

Humana-Paredes is still going strong as she looks to secure her first Olympic medal at the Paris 2024 Games, partnering Brandie Wilkerson. But her and Pavan’s combined wealth of experience did not prevent them from suffering a serious wardrobe malfunction in The Hague, Netherlands, back in 2017.

The duo had just reached the semi-final of the World Tour event, having worn leggings leading up to the medal matches as all of their contests were played indoors up until that point. But they were soon told they were unable to compete without matching bikini bottoms - which resulted in a humiliating ordeal where they had to borrow used thongs.

Recalling the incident in the Summer of 2020 in a YouTube video, Humana-Paredes recalled: “We were used to wearing leggings during our games indoors and 10 minutes before the game started, the refs called us and we did the coin toss. We were getting ready to go outside for service.

“We took our pants off to walk over to the outdoor courts and we were wearing different bathing suit bottoms. The hotel was 45 minutes away and we didn’t have to go there. We didn’t have other pairs of bottoms on us.”

Pavan chimed in: “Oh my God I have anxiety just thinking about,” to which her long-time team-mate added: “It freaks me out.” Humana-Paredes explained how the referee denied their request to play with leggings on because it wasn’t cold enough.

The Canadian duo were told to instead borrow the bikini bottoms used by the tournament dancers beforehand - which more closely resembled thongs. Pavan howled: “These dancers were less than five feet tall and they were wearing thongs! We tried them on over our other bottoms.”

Unable to compete in their skimpy makeshift attire and fast running out of options, they decided to approach the Switzerland team, who had just won their own semi final match. “They were feeling good so we decided to ask them for their bottoms which they just played in,” Humana-Paredes said.

“We said ‘hey guys, we don’t have our uniforms ready, can we wear yours?’” That sparked some confused looks from the Swiss pair, all while their own Brazilian opponents were getting in a valuable warm-up session on the outdoor court.

They were finally able to receive the Swiss’ sweaty bikini bottoms and wore them over their own. Unsurprisingly, they suffered a crushing 2-1 (16-21, 21-13, 15-11) defeat with just one minute of warming-up behind them.

Pavan said: “That was the most uncomfortable game of my life. Double bikini bottoms - not good. I don’t recommend it.”

Her team-mate added: “That’s probably one of my most embarrassing moments, just like a rookie move. And now we pull our pants down before every game to make sure we’re wearing the same bottoms.”

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