'I'm in baby' - Liz Cambage changes her mind on Tokyo Olympics boycott

Kieran Francis

'I'm in baby' - Liz Cambage changes her mind on Tokyo Olympics boycott image

Australian basketball star Liz Cambage has backed down on her threat to boycott the Tokyo Olympics by declaring on social media, "I'm in baby."

In a series of Instagram posts last week, Cambage threatened to skip July's showpiece event after calling out what she believed was a 'whitewashed' promotional shoot for the event from the AOC.

The Opals centre then doubled down on her warning following public criticism, proclaiming she doesn't 'care for a white man’s opinion on racial issues'.

However, Cambage backflipped on her stance via a post on Tuesday, announcing that she would be attending the Games.

"For everyone so desperately wondering what my decision is for the Opals, I’m in baby. I’m in baby! I’m in! Wooooo!" Cambage said via her Instagram story.

"How can I sit out when we have the bodysuits back? I’m going to look so good in it.

"I’m going to play with my sisters that I’ve been playing with since I was a wee little thing and I’m going to ball out for all those young brown kids back in Australia watching me, baby. I’m going to do it for you!"

Cambage had originally declared she wasn't going to attend the Olympics - which runs from July 23 to August 8 - after the 29-year-old criticised the Australian Olympic Team for two photoshoots. 

One was a photoshoot featuring eight athletes for a brand partner, Jockey Australia. 

The other was the launch of the Australian Olympic Team's Asics uniform that will be worn at the Olympic Games. 

"If I've said it once I've said it a million times," Cambage posted on her Instagram.

"HOW AM I MEANT TO REPRESENT A COUNTRY THAT DOESN'T EVEN REPRESENT ME #whitewashedaustralia."

Shortly after Cambage's comments, Tom Maher - Australia's most successful women's basketball coach - labelled the proposed boycott as 'inappropriate' and insisted he would say, 'see you later', if he had to deal with that threat as coach.

After Maher's statement, Cambage used social media to criticise a coach and past players for their comments on her stand - but it's not known whether her statement was referring to what was said by Maher, who coached her at WNBL club Bulleen Boomers in the past.

"I DO NOT CARE FOR A WHITE MAN’S OPINION ON RACIAL ISSUES. NEVER HAVE. NEVER WILL," Cambage wrote on Instagram.

"Especially when the comments come from one of the most abusive coaches I have ever had and past players no one cares about."

Cambage was also slammed by tennis legend Todd Woodbridge, who said she disrespected the athletes involved in the photoshoot.

"My initial thought was, don’t do it that way,” Woodbridge said on Nine's Sports Sunday.

"Why do it that way? Why do it with the anger and the threats? You cannot threaten to pull out of representing your country, you’ve got the privilege to be there and to do something special.

"If you want to do something like that, why don’t you do it the way Naomi Osaka did it? I mean, she changed the world. She didn’t have to get out there and use language and threaten us all that we’ve done the wrong thing.

"I’d say, good on you for standing up for it but there are ways. We’ve got another great ambassador here in Australia we just spoke about, Ash Barty; she does it the right way. That’s not her style."

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.