Australian basketball team star Liz Cambage announced on Friday that she is resigning from the Tokyo Games invoking a mental health problem fueled by the prospect of “terrifying” isolation in the anticovid health bubble.
The Opals player (nickname by which the Australian women’s basketball team is known) stated that she could not compete confidently at the highest level in Japan while suffering from “panic attacks, no sleep and no food.”
“I was really very concerned about the idea of participating in an Olympic Games ‘in bubble’,” said in a statement the pivot of 2.03m, holder of the record of points registered in a game of the American professional league (WNBA). 53 in 2018.
“No family. No friends. No fans. No support system beyond my team. Honestly, for me it’s scary,” explained the Las Vegas Aces player, revealing that she suffered from mental health problems in the past.
“It breaks my heart to announce my withdrawal from the Olympics, but I think it is the best for the Opals and for myself,” added Cambage, 29, and bronze in London-2012.
She is the second Australian basketball player to give up games due to mental problems, after Ryan Broekhoff did so in June.
At the beginning of the year, Liz Cambage, of a Nigerian father and Australian mother, already threatened not to participate in the Games, although at that time the reason was the lack of racial diversity, in her opinion, that was in the promotional photos published by the Committee Australian Olympian, who acknowledged his mistake and vowed to change to reflect the diversity of his athletes.
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