Liz Cambage has been dropped from the Opals Olympic qualifiers after attending a music festival instead of a training camp.
The 23-year-old Opals star created history at the London Olympics in 2012 when she became the first woman ever to slam dunk at the games.
But Basketball Australia have ruled her out of the Opals’ Rio Olympic qualifying series after she chose to attend music festival Splendour In The Grass rather than the first day of training camp.
(For those confused, this means that Cambage could still play at the Rio Olympics).
The 203cm centre, who is a fixture of the Melbourne social scene has signed a reputed $1m-plus deal to play in China next season and has lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike and Swisse.
???? @higgsy7 A photo posted by @ecambage on Jul 17, 2015 at 4:38pm PDT
The 16-woman Opals squad, who are currently in training for a three-game series against Japan, were told Cambage had decided to attend the festival this weekend and come into camp on Monday. Basketball Australia issued a short media statement saying as a consequence the 203cm centre would be unavailable for selection for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers,
“It doesn’t fit in with the culture we are building – you can’t choose a music festival over a camp. She is letting her teammates down and I just wish she could have been a part of these games but it’s not to be. “Liz is a good friend of mine and I’d love her to be a part of it but the team has to come first.”
Australian basketball great and team mate Lauren Jackson told the ABC it goes against the Opals’ long-standing culture.
“I love Liz, I think she’s an absolutely great person … and I’d do anything for her. But it’s just one of those things where you’ve got these girls training their butts off and they’re really giving their everything. “No one player is bigger than the sport itself – that’s the culture that we’ve always had, and that’s what’s been so great about the Opals.”
Cambage, who has spent the last 10 months recovering from a ruptured achilles, told the Herald Sun she was trying to work through things with the governing body, and that she will consider legal action if Basketball Australia did not overturn the decision.
A photo posted by @ecambage on May 24, 2015 at 12:15am PDT
Coach Brendan Joyce said the call to cut her from the 16-strong squad was “pretty easy”.
“We haven’t been emotional about it – it’s a decision that had to be made, not only for Liz but for the team,” Joyce said.
“Liz has been fully abreast of her responsibilities and what’s required, not only from the cultural point of view but also the medical side of it.”
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Top Comments
It's professional sport.Totally fair.
I think we need some more information before judging this woman. Tickets for Splendour in the Grass sell out almost immediately after release, so she would have bought her ticket months ago. Did she know the dates for the training camp at that time? If she did, then yes, she is in the wrong and deserves her punishment since she has not apologised. However, if she had not been made aware of the dates before buying her festival ticket there is nothing wrong here except Basketball Australia's inflexibility.
And why are we only hearing about this now? They would have known well before the training session that she wasn't going to be there.
Yet she made that choice. I have no idea what tickets cost for this event. It could be $20, it could be $2000.
If I was given the chance to play for my country I would do it without a hint of hesitation. The cost of my festival ticket would not even enter my mind. Maybe that's just me.