Olympics Liz Cambage basketball could miss Tokyo after fighting and partying in Las Vegas  

Australian basketball star Liz Cambage won’t play in the Tokyo Olympics due to ongoing mental health concerns. 

Cambage, 29, vanished from the Opals camp in Las Vegas earlier on Friday and teammates as well as officials were not aware of her current whereabouts.

On Friday afternoon (AEST), Cambage confirmed via her social media she won’t be on the plane to Tokyo.

‘Every athlete competing at the Olympic Games should be at their mental and physical peak, and I am a long where from where I want and need to be,’ Cambage said on her Instagram page.

‘It’s no secret I have had my struggles with mental health in the past and living in a bubble without family and friends (in Tokyo) is honestly terrifying for me.

‘Relying on daily medication to control my anxiety is not the place I want to be right now. 

‘It breaks my heart to withdraw from the Olympics, but I think it is the best decision for the Opals and myself right now.’

Cambage, 29, doesn’t feel she would cope living in a bubble away from family and friends in Tokyo for the Games – and has confirmed she won’t play in the Olympics

Cambage’s erratic behaviour in Las Vegas this week infuriated teammates and team officials – before she announced she won’t be playing in Tokyo

Australian basketball star Liz Cambage has confirmed she won’t play in the Tokyo Olympics

Cambage went on to wish her Opals teammates ‘nothing but the best of luck in Tokyo’ and said she hopes they ‘go forth and win a gold medal.’

Earlier on Friday, it emerged the two-time Olympian was involved in a physical altercation during a warm up match against Nigeria earlier this week, which resulted in an episode of verbal abuse.

The four-time WNBA All-Star reportedly also broke team protocols to socialise with friends in Nevada, where she has been a standout with local side Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA.

Additionally, team officials were believed to be investigating another possible incident, with Cambage on the verge of being axed from the squad before her withdrawal.

Cambage not playing in Tokyo is a significant blow for the Opals, as she is widely regarded as the team’s best player.

The Opals named an 11-player squad for the Olympics, which now sits at 10 players. 

It is expected a replacement player will be drafted in to replace Cambage. 

Last month, Cambage accused Aussie basketball legend Andrew Bogut of lying and having a ‘f*****g weird’ obsession with her.

The pair were caught up in an extraordinary Twitter spat over her complaints about a ‘whitewashed’ promotional photo for the Olympics.

Bogut was quick to downplay the public feud, but Cambage lashed out at her basketball counterpart on social media.

‘Wow. I do not have your number, I have literally never spoken to you away from a BA event. This obsession is just f*****g weird. And my name still in your mouth…… get a f*****g life,’ she captioned a screenshot of Bogut’s comments.

Cambage initially threatened to boycott the Tokyo Olympics over a perceived lack of racial diversity in the Australian Olympic Committee’s promotional photos.

‘If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times. How am I meant to represent a country that doesn’t even represent me?’ she wrote at the time. 

‘If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times. HOW AM I MEANT TO REPRESENT A COUNTRY THAT DOESNT EVEN REPRESENT ME,’ Cambage wrote on social media with the hashtag ‘whitewashedaustralia’

Cambage, 29, threatened to ‘sit out’ this year’s event because there was not enough diversity in the promotional photo shoots (one pictured)

She later backflipped and confirmed she would play in her third Olympics – which now won’t happen. 

‘For everyone wondering so desperately what my decision is for the Opals, I’m in baby… I’m in,’ she told fans in an Instagram video. 

‘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.’

But the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist vowed to continue speaking out about the lack of racial diversity.

‘There are two people in this world there are the people who have the balls to stand up and say something and make change; that’s me. I was born for this,’ Cambage continued.

‘The second type of people in this world. that’s the people that are intimidated and scared and insecure and hide behind fake profiles and talk s**t because you are too scared to do anything.

‘I’m not going to stop for no one or nothing. Have a great day.’ 

Cambage initially threatened to boycott the Tokyo Olympics over a perceived lack of racial diversity in the Australian Olympic Committee’s promotional photos

Liz Cambage (centre) will be sorely missed by the Opals in Tokyo – she is regarded as the team’s best player

Opals legend and three-time Olympian Michele Timms addressed the withdrawal of Cambage and said ‘enough is enough’.

‘Not what you want to read a few days before the Olympics,’ she wrote on Facebook. 

Former Aussie basketball star Chris Anstey also addressed the news, saying when at her worst Cambage was ‘unbearable’. 

‘At her best, Liz Cambage is one of the best couple of basketball players in the world,’ he said on SEN.

‘At her worst, she’s unbearable to be around as a teammate.’

Meanwhile the news has sparked a mixed reaction online with some supporting her decision and others admitting they’re disappointed. 

‘Credit to her for being open and honest about the hard reality of what an Olympic Games could be like for athletes,’ one said.

‘She has the potential to be one of the best in the world… what a waste,’ wrote another. 

‘Some may say good riddance, but there is no denying that when she is focused, she is one of the best female basketballers on the planet,’ one tweeted. 

In another move that sparked headlines, Cambage last year called for the Aboriginal flag to be included on team uniforms, and for Basketball Australia to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

When she told teammates she wasn’t feeling supported, they organised a boycott of team training to support her.

Australian Opals star Liz Cambage (pictured)will not be starring for the team in the Tokyo Olympics

Cambage was also earlier accused of racism after she called a coach a ‘little white man’ in response to his disrespectful comment about her weight.

The WNBA All-Star, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces, hit back at Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller in an Instagram post in May after he encouraged an official to call a foul against her while saying: ‘C’mon, she’s 300 pounds.’  

‘I will never let a man disrespect me, ever, ever, ever, especially a little white one,’ Cambage, 29, told her 580,000 followers in an explosive rant after the game. 

‘Don’t ever try to disrespect me or another woman in the league.’

But some took to Twitter to condemn Cambage’s remarks as racist, some even calling them worse than his.

‘I like Liz Cambage, but she clapped back by calling him a “little white boy”?? That’s even ground for suspension if we’re playing this game,’ one critic, Rob Stukenborg, posted on Twitter. 

Another Twitter user, Frankie, wrote: ‘So Liz Cambage can get mad at a man for bringing up her size in the heat of a game, but it’s okay for her to say that she will ‘never let a little white man’ disrespect her? What she said is worse lmaooo.’ 

Cambage has played professionally in China and Australia, in addition to the US. She is a three-time WNBA All-Star and in 2011, she was named MVP of the Australian league, the WNBL. 

Cambage, a 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, vowed to continue speaking out about the lack of racial diversity