The 27-year-old's one-piece, ultratight uniform split down the rear, exposing her bare buttocks, as she bent over just seconds before a competition in Switzerland on Sunday.
Thanks to YouTube, the whole wide world now knows that Cooke wore a G-string in the competition. Like a true sport, she and teammate Nicola Minichiello still managed to finish seventh in the competition.
Cooke and Minichiello won gold for the United Kingdom at last year's world championship in Lake Placid, N.Y., becoming the first women from Britain to take such honors.
The two will compete next month at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where Cooke will have a chance to live down what is likely to be remembered as the greatest wardrobe malfunction in a sports arena since Janet Jackson's infamous "nip slip" at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.
Of course, sports fans have seen other bust-out performances over the years.
In May 1997, Lucy Lawless, raven-haired star of "Xena: Warrior Princess," sang the national anthem at a Detroit Red Wings game while wearing a very snug bustier. When she spread her arms to belt out that big final note, the land of the brave became the home of the free show.
At a 1988 Paris figure skating show, Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt's costume slid down her torso, exposing her chest to the French crowd. A West German magazine published a seminude picture of the mortified East German champion, noting, "You can't get any more glasnost than that."
The antics of Pam Anderson and former fiancé Kid Rock at the 2001 Kentucky Derby are legendary.
The buxom blonde caused quite a stir at the Barnstable Brown Gala during race weekend when her treacherous top slipped down, exposing her breasts as she kissed then-beau Rock. He didn't seem to mind.
"Wanna meet the hottest chick in the world?" Rock said, according to Cosmopolitan magazine. "Well, she just happens to be my girlfriend."
