Liz Cambage declared that she would compete for Nigeria at the Olympics in Paris the following year. It’s interesting to note that she allegedly yelled racial epithets at the squad during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. During a disagreement back in 2021, Cambage allegedly made racist slurs toward the Nigeran team.
Before the Olympic Games, during a practice match, the incident took place. A video that showed the start of the fight was released to the public. Cambage’s opponent was fighting for a rebounding position when her elbow caught her in the neck.
According to some media outlets, she hurled racial epithets at the Nigerian national team following the event. The crew was reportedly called “monkeys” by Cambage, who also advised them to “go back to your third-world country.”
Liz Cambage Controversy
Liz Cambage, a former WNBA star, has never been afraid of the limelight or of speaking her mind. Cambage often makes news for her antics, whether it’s due to her on-court performance or her off-court circumstances.
Recently, Cambage had a conversation with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks about her path and the events that tarnished and ended her basketball career. Rooks brought up the issue involving Cambage and the Nigerian women’s national basketball team during the discussion.
According to reports, Cambage got into a fight with the Nigerian women’s national basketball team in July 2021 while she was training with Australia for the Tokyo Olympics. As word seeped out of the closed-door session of racial slurs being hurled and physical altercations happening, the scrimmage that went viral immediately took over the internet.
According to an early story from news.com, an Australian publication, Cambage reportedly instructed the Nigerian players to “go back to your third-world country” and referred to them as “monkeys.”
In an interview with the outlet, Nigerian athletes confirmed the claims, saying, “She did use monkeys or monkeys.” In an Instagram post that has since been removed, Cambage quickly denied the accusations, claiming that she “unintentionally” fouled a player on the court and labeling the posts as “inaccurate” and “misleading.”
Notably, Cambage’s father is half Nigerian, and players from that country have acknowledged that this has exacerbated the situation. A Nigerian player told The Telegraph, “Even though she’s Australian, we knew she was half-Nigerian, so before then, it was like she was one of us.” Her acting in that way with no guilt at all was another deeply hurtful thing.
Cambage left the Australian national team after the incident and hasn’t joined them again to play for the Olympics. The argument was reopened when Cambage persisted in her denial in the Rooks interview that she had used any racist epithets during the incident.
When she added that she was in negotiations to play for the Nigerian national team at the next Olympics, she fueled the flames even more. Assured Guard Amukamara of the Nigerian national team called Cambage out on Twitter right away. Amukamara declared that Cambage’s two claims were untrue. Several Nigerian athletes disputed Cambage’s assertions on social media.
According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, Liz Cambage has never received a call from the Nigeria Basketball Federation regarding representing her country and will not be considered for any upcoming tournaments.
A whole video of the scrimmage was posted on social media a few days after the disturbance. In the entire video, Cambage is shown violently elbowing and cheaply shooting Nigerian players, inciting them to become enraged and take revenge.
The Nigerian team’s seasoned player, Aisha Mohammed, eventually took matters into her own hands and charged at Cambage. The skirmish was eventually stopped when she delivered a punch that knocked Cambage to the ground.
Although it was unclear from the video whether Cambage referred to the Nigerian players as “monkeys,” there were multiple instances in which Cambage and the players engaged in heated exchanges of words. Following the public broadcast of the footage, Cambage issued a statement.
The first of two popular moments from the Rooks interview was the Nigerian scuffle. Cambage also discussed her departure from the WNBA and the Los Angeles Sparks. In July 2022, Cambage stated that she was leaving the Sparks midseason and that she would be concentrating on “healing and personal growth” instead of playing basketball.
As she related the tale to Rooks, Cambage became more transparent and linked her problems to the “toxic” atmosphere of the squad and the way her teammates handled her. In the remark, she attacked her teammates’ passing skills while criticizing them for yelling at her.
