Australian basketball star Liz Cambage has seemingly threatened to boycott the upcoming Tokyo Olympics over what she says it a lack of diversity in recent photo shoots involving the Australian team.
Jockey was yesterday unveiled as the official underwear supplier to the Australian Olympic and Paralympics teams, with swimmers Cameron McEvoy and Ellie Cole, canoeist Jess Fox and tennis player Heath Davidson announced as ambassadors for the campaign.
Cambage has taken exception to the fact that the images supplied by Jockey from the photo shoot don't include a person of colour.
"If I've said it once I've said it a million times," she wrote on Instagram.
"HOW AM I MEANT TO REPRESENT A COUNTRY THAT DOESN'T EVEN REPRESENT ME #whitewashedaustralia."
Cambage's next message seemed to suggest she will make herself unavailable for this year's games in protest.
"y'all really do anything to remove POCs from the forefront when it's black athletes leading the pack until I see you doing more @ausolympicteam imma sit this one out," she wrote.
"Also just to remind you Australia's GREATEST sporting moment was thanks too (sic) BLACK INDIGENOUS WOMAN (Cathy Freeman)."
Cambage, however, appears to have made an embarrassing mistake in another post, where she's included a picture from a recent photo shoot for Adidas, that includes Indigenous rugby player Maurice Longbottom.
Cambage has captioned the photo, "fake tan doesn't equal diversity."
Longbottom is also pictured wearing a shirt with an Indigenous design, designed by Indigenous artist and Olympic boxer, Paul Fleming, that acknowledges the 52 Indigenous athletes to have represented Australia at the Olympics.
Cambage, who plays in the WNBA for Las Vegas, was part of the Australian team that won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, and is a three-time WNBA All-Star.
She was born in London to a Nigerian father and an Australian mother.
In a statement to Wide World of Sports, the Australian Olympic Committee conceded it could have done better.
"The AOC acknowledges Liz Cambage's point with regard to this particular photo shoot," it said.
"The athletes made available to Jockey could and should have better reflected the rich diversity of athletes who represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
"The AOC does however have a very proud history of celebrating and promoting diversity in all its forms. From Indigenous reconciliation, people of colour, gender equality and all forms of diversity, the AOC is rightly proud of its record."
The AOC said it is already taking action to ensure appropriate representation of Indigenous athletes.
"Tomorrow the Annual General Meeting will consider a change to the AOC Constitution which will ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island representation on our Athletes' Commission. Next month we will launch our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan following lengthy consultation with our Indigenous Advisory Committee.
"Our Olympic Team for Tokyo, as it did in Rio, will consist of more women than men.
"We proudly defend our track record on diversity and there will be further photo shoots that reflect our broad diversity of athletes.
"With regard to this photo shoot however, we acknowledge while proud of the athletes involved and proud of our association with Jockey, it should have better reflected the diversity of our Team.
"The Olympic Charter commits us all to oppose any form of discrimination."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/news/tokyo-2020-liz-cambage-hits-out-at-australian-olympic-committee-lack-of-diversity-person-of-colour/4d2ac006-cadd-4b89-8f7d-38014a93ca45
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