By Samantha Lane and Exclusive
Elizabeth Cambage will confront fellow basketball star Andrew Bogut at the Olympics – and has told Fairfax Media she suspects he harbours some kind of issue with her – after an online spat that revisited the Opal's commitment to national duties.
"I've been trying not to bring any of this up publicly, but if Andrew Bogut is going to speak like that to me publicly I'm going to talk about this publicly now," Cambage said on Friday from the United States, where she is preparing for the Rio Games with the gold medal-fancied Australian female squad.
Not amused: Elizabeth CambageCredit: Jay Cronan
"It's frustrating because I've just focused on the Olympics all year and then this happens when all I'm trying to do is educate someone for their ignorant comments.
"But it's weird because he's done stuff about me before. He's retweeted things about me and commented on things about me before. It's just strange. I don't really understand what I did to him, if I've done anything to him, but it's bizarre."
Cambage said she had no substantial relationship with fellow international star and compatriot Bogut, which is why she found his "high school, childish behaviour" online this week dumbfounding.
"Worry about yourself, worry about your career, worry about rehabbing your knee so you're right for the Olympics now," she said on Friday.
Asked to describe her relationship with Bogut, Cambage scoffed. "Minimal. Nothing.There isn't one. I don't think I've spoken to him in real life.
"I've always followed him [on Twitter] just because he's another Australian basketballer doing really well in the NBA, but other than that I don't even think we've really met before."
Bogut re-opened a somewhat sensitive can of worms with a message he posted on Twitter in response to Cambage posting about a racial equality rally staged in Melbourne earlier this month.
The "Black Lives Matter" movement began in America aiming to highlight police violence against people of colour and so-called racial profiling. Bogut's initial questioning, online, of the relevance of such a rally in Australia prompted Cambage – who attended the rally and published a picture and message about it online – to take to the same platform to urge Bogut to get better educated on the topic. Though he later apologised and admitted to "highly" regretting his initial tweet on the subject, Bogut wrote that a rally against police brutality in Melbourne was akin to "protesting for less jumbo jets to be on highways".
When Cambage responded that Bogut's retraction was "better late than never" with a softening smiley symbol, Bogut replied: "would not have guessed better late than never is your mantra! Know of any music festivals I can skip training for in Rio?"
It has become something of a cross to bear for Cambage that – while still grappling with an achilles tendon injury last year – she opted out of an Opals training camp and attended a music festival.
Cambage told Fairfax on Friday she did not take Bogut's comments as a joke. "I felt offended because I was just trying to educate him on racial profiling and police brutality in Australia – he said there's no issue when there clearly is an issue, look at the Four Corners report last week," she said.
"Look at the number of indigenous Australians we have in jail. Look at the statistics that say if you're of African descent you have more of a chance of being pulled up by police in Australia. We do have a racial profiling issue, we do have a police brutality issue in Australia ... just because no one is being shot doesn't mean we don't.
"There's clubs in Melbourne that have rules that they're not allowed to bring in groups of three or more Sudanese boys or Asian guys in. It's disgusting. I'm sick of the racial profiling and sick of the ignorance and stuff I read every day saying we don't have an issue."
Cambage said she would not expressly seek Bogut out in Rio but that an encounter was inevitable: "I'm sure we'll bump into each other, we'll be living in the same building."
Asked if that would be tense, she said: "No, if I see him I'll ask him what his problem is. I don't want to start anything but it will be like 'what is your issue with me?'
"I'm not scared, I'm not trying to start a fight either. I would just ask 'what's up?' "