Schipper's zip brings her undone

Jess Schipper is gaining an unfortunate reputation for wardrobe malfunctions and this time it all ended in tears when the zip on her Speedo LZR wouldn't do up.

She managed to overcome her swimsuit filling up with water at the Olympic trials but Monday's mishap at the Water Cube was particularly cruel.

Just minutes before the biggest race of her career to date, Schipper's zip on her Speedo LZR Racer suit wouldn't do up.

The normally composed Schipper admitted to panicking as she and compatriot Libby Trickett squeezed into the super-tight suits just moments before the 100m butterfly final.

"The LZR Racers are not the easiest suits to get into," she said.

"I was probably a little bit stressed out, Libby was great in helping me out and settling me down," she said.

Schipper eventually had to ditch the suit and squeeze into another, older LZR swim suit.

There is no doubt the late drama rattled Schipper (57.25s) as she finished with a bronze medal behind Trickett (56.73s) and American Christine Magnuson (57.25s).

She burst into tears following the race and was still emotional on the podium and at the post-race press conference.

The 2005 world champion had not only missed out on gold in the two-lap event but a possible berth on Australia's potent 4x100m medley relay.

But she wasn't the only one to have had outfit dramas this week.

"I actually had a suit malfunction before the semi-finals yesterday and Jess actually helped me too," Trickett said.

"We really look after each other but Jess's situation was a little harder as Jess was about to be zipped up when it broke.

"So she did an amazing job to refocus to get in there and fight the whole way."

Schipper said she was pleased with the bronze medal and she probably was.

But she would have been ruing the late drama as elite athletes thrive on order and routine.

The world record holder now must turn her attention to the heats of the 200m butterfly on Tuesday night.