The sudden departure of Liz Cambyses from the Australian Olympic basketball team has been a mystery for almost a year now. At the time, Cambyses explained to him that he was leaving the team just before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, citing panic attacks and difficulty eating and sleeping. There are vague reports of an incident that took place during a clash between Australian and Nigerian parties, but it is difficult to say exactly what happened.
The Daily Telegraph Has published a report on what happened during that clash and it does not flatter Cambyses. According to the report, things started to go awry after Cambridge threw an elbow at the head of a Nigerian player who was watching him. Telegraph The story includes a video clip of this elbow). After the timeout, Cambys got into a scuffle with another Nigerian player and slapped him in the face, and as Cambys was walking towards the bench after the incident, an angry Nigerian player ran after Cambys and punched him with a closed fist. When it does, talk to Nigerian players Telegraph, Cambyses called them “monkeys”. From the report:
An enraged Cambyses then opened a verbal barrage on Nigerians.
Two Nigerian players have confirmed that they have heard Kambez referred to as a “monkey”.
“He said, ‘Control your monkeys’ or something like that,” said one player. “The things he said were ridiculous.
“It was unwanted, it was dirty and it was just a bad situation.
“I didn’t hit it (comment) because I knew it was an ignorant person saying it.”
The second player said: “That’s what I remember, the word monkey, yes. And go back to where you came from.
“It simply came to our notice then. The rest was basic trash talk.
“He must have used monkeys or monkeys.”
A third player told the investigation: “I was on the court. He must have said go back to your third world country. I didn’t hear it, but (the teammates) confirmed that he called us monkeys. “
Daily Telegraph
Cambyses, whose father is Nigerian, went to a Nigerian party dinner the next day to apologize for his actions, the report said. One player said Telegraph Half of the team turned to Cambridge as he spoke, but another indicated that at least some players had accepted his apology. “Liz went to my teammate who slapped him in the face and hugged him and it was okay,” the player said.
Cambridge’s relationship with the Australian national team and the media was incredibly full even before he left the team last summer, and it is impossible to imagine he would ever represent his country again. At the moment, this is probably the best result for everyone involved.