Go back to the Third World, basketball star Liz Cambage told Nigerians

The mystery of Liz Cambage’s withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics has been solved.

The racial taunt from Liz Cambage, ­herself born of a Nigerian father, triggered an on-court brawl ­in Las Vegas last July. Picture: Getty Images

The mystery of Liz Cambage’s withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics last year has been solved, with her former captain ­revealing the controversial basketball star allegedly racially vilified members of the Nigerian team during a heated warm-up game.

Former Opals captain Jenna O’Hea confirmed that Cambage told members of the Nigerian women’s team to “go back to your Third World country”.

The taunt from Cambage, ­herself born of a Nigerian father, triggered an on-court brawl ­during the match, which was held in Las Vegas last July.

In the aftermath, Cambage – the Opals’ best player – walked away from the national team and has had no contact with teammates since.

Without her, the Opals bombed out of the Tokyo Olympics, winning just one of three pool matches before going down to the US in the quarter-finals.

She has since indicated she no longer has any interest in playing for Australia, but has never revealed what went on in Las Vegas. Her Opals teammates have also remained silent. Cambage was investigated for Basketball Australia and issued with a formal reprimand, but no details of the incident were made public.

But, on ABC TV’s Offsiders on Sunday, O’Hea, although visibly uncomfortable speaking about the incident, finally lifted the lid with a little help from host Kellie Underwood.

“Is it correct that you were playing Nigeria and Liz Cambage had her feathers ruffled and she turned to them and said, ‘Go back to your Third World country’? And, of course, Ezi Magbegor is originally Nigerian and a Nigerian who is now living in Australia and playing for your team, and as a result there was a brawl that erupted and since then you haven’t spoken to her?” Underwood asked.

O’Hea replied: “That is all 100 per cent correct.”

Fellow guest Caroline Wilson then asked O’Hea whether ­Cambage would ever represent her nation again.

“No,” O’Hea said bluntly.

ABC broadcaster Corban Middlemas, who was also an Offsiders panellist, said he was “staggered” Basketball Australia had not come clean on the incident. “I find it staggering, to be honest, that ­Basketball Australia have never detailed exactly what went on and how we got to this position,” he said.

“The outcome is one of the most dominant players on planet Earth, who is Australian, is never going to represent Australia again, and it’s almost like there’s this ­acceptance that we don’t want her to play for us and she doesn’t want to play for us and that’s it and it’s finished and there’s nothing left to say.”

Cambage escaped a fine or ­suspension over the racial slur, but is understood to have personally apologised to the Nigerian team after the match.

Cambage, who now plays for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA, pulled out of the Opals Olympic campaign in the days after the practice match against Nigeria –­ and a week before the Olympics began – due to mental health concerns.

O’Hea told News Corp last July that “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, and has since said she has struggled to move on from the incident. “To be honest, I saw a sports psych for months afterwards trying to deal with it all and I do think that that’s part of the reason why I have retired,” she told SEN a week ago. “It took a huge toll on me and was really difficult … I don’t think I’ll ever fully process it to be ­honest.”

Aussie basketball legend Andrew Bogut slammed Cambage at the time, dubbing her comments – which he had heard off the record – as “absolutely disgusting”.

Cambage last week hit out at the Opals, saying she never felt supported and protected while in the national team. “I’m living my best life. I’m supported, I’m protected on a level that the Opals or the Australian team never gave to me,” she told ABC.