Aussie basketball superstar Liz Cambage has dragged a coach and past players into her Olympics team photo furore, claiming to have received threats.
The 29-year-old made headlines in dramatic fashion on Friday when she said she will “sit out” the Tokyo Olympics after taking issue with the athletes chosen to represent Australia in promotional shoots ahead of the Games.
The WNBA star has been the Australian Opals’ leader in recent years but has had enough of people of colour not being fairly represented.
Cambage caused a storm when she shared an image from the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams uniform unveiling.
She slammed the photos for the lack of diversity.
In the wake of her threat, Cambage doubled down on her anger Friday night, taking to her Instagram Stories to call on Australia to “wake the f*** up”.
Cambage has now revealed on Saturday she has been abused by people on social media following her public comments.
Her explosive claims include a suggestion a coach and former players were among the people to have criticised her as a result of her stand.
Australia’s most successful women’s coach Tom Maher on Friday labelled Cambage “inappropriate” for threatening to boycott the Tokyo Olympics.
Maher, who coached the Australian women’s side to their first Olympic medal (bronze) at the 1996 Atlanta Games and a silver at Sydney 2000, believes Cambage shouldn’t have used social media to air her concerns.
“It is inappropriate to make such a big deal out of pretty much nothing,” said Maher, who also won a record nine WNBL titles.
Hours later, Cambage captioned one photo of her sticking her tongue out on her Instagram stories: “I DO NOT CARE FOR A WHITE MAN’S OPINION ON RACIAL ISSUES. NEVER HAVE. NEVER WILL”.
She followed it with another post to suggest her comment was in regards to criticism she had received from a coach and past players.
“Especially when the comments come from one of the most abusive coaches I have ever had and past players no one cares about,” she wrote.
A third post gave a warning to online trolls that there are avenues for her to track social media users sending her threats online.
“Keep the threats coming boys,” she wrote on a screen shot image.
Maher coached Cambage at the Bulleen Boomers and famously challenged her to get back in shape after arriving back in Australia following the WNBA season in 2011.
Cambage admitted at the time she was “unfit” after “sitting on the bench and eating American food”.
The pair combined to lead the Boomers to the WNBL championship that season with Cambage being awarded as the WNBL’s MVP.
Cambage earlier said in an Instagram video she was sorry for her words being incorrectly interpreted as a suggestion proud Indigenous athlete Maurice Longbottom, pictured in one of the photos that sparked the drama, was not a person of colour.
She had earlier said “fake tan doesn’t equal diversity” in regards to the photo.
“One token POC in a photo is not good enough at. @AOC that’s what I’m talking about,” she said.
“It’s sad, the whitewashing is sad. Your black athletes lead you everywhere. Indigenous athletes are some of the best athletes we have. An y’all don’t use them at all.”
The AOC had responded earlier on Friday.
“The athletes made available to Jockey could and should have better reflected the rich diversity of athletes who represent Australia at the Olympic Games,” a spokesman said.
“The AOC does however have a very proud history of celebrating and promoting diversity in all its forms. From Indigenous reconciliation, people of colour, gender equality and all forms of diversity, the AOC is rightly proud of its record.”
It’s not the first time Cambage has taken aim over issues of race in Australia with the Las Vegas Aces WNBA star sending a fiery message to Australia “allies” last year in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and black deaths in custody.
