You may be washing off the mud, dealing with the ringing in your ears and generally cursing the fact that you have to go back to work on this post-Splendour In The Grass Monday.
Spare a thought, though, for Liz Cambage – the 23-year-old Aussie basketball star chose to skip the first day of an Opals training camp to attend the festival, and has now lost her place in next month’s qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
SBS News report that Cambage, who was recently out for 10 months recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, was due to join the Opals tonight for the first of a three-game series against Japan.
However, the training camp she skipped was a mandatory one, meaning that she has been dropped from the squad, and will not play in tonight’s game, or face New Zealand in next month’s Ocenania Championships, where the Olympic team will be selected.
Opals coach Brendan Joyce said:
“We haven’t been emotional about it – it’s a decision that had to be made, not only for Liz but for the team. We’ve got to put the team first and our goal is to use this Japan series with the players that want to be involved and are dedicated to represent their country, put their best foot forward and then we select a team to play against New Zealand.”
Her teammate Rachel Jarry told Fairfax:
“It doesn’t fit in with the culture we are building – you can’t choose a music festival over a camp. She is letting her teammates down and I just wish she could have been a part of these games but it’s not to be.
“Liz is a good friend of mine and I’d love her to be a part of it but the team has to come first.”
Basketball Australia have released a statement saying that they will continue to support Cambage in the recovery from her Achilles tendon injury. She herself has not yet commented.
Photo: Christian Petersen via Getty Images
