'I don't feel like a hypocrite in any way': Team USA's Sue Bird defends staying on court for national anthem at Olympics after women's basketball star walked off before WNBA games

• Sue Bird of Team USA says she and teammates will stand for national anthem 
• Women's basketball star says there's no contradiction with previous stance  
• Last year, Bird and her WNBA colleagues walked off court during anthem 
• Move was done to protest police brutality after fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor 
• Bird was one of the US flag-bearers during Opening Ceremony at Tokyo Games 

Sue Bird sees no contradiction with the US team staying on the court during the national anthem at the Olympics.

It's a change for the four-time Olympic gold medalist and her WNBA teammates. 

During the WNBA season players usually leave the court to raise awareness for social justice before the anthem is played at games.

'You are wearing USA jerseys and it does change the conversation a little bit and what you're representing,' Bird told The Associated Press after practice on Saturday.

'With that, I don't feel like a hypocrite in any way. Everyone knows where we stand. I don´t think it contradicts anything since we're actually doing the work.'

Logistically it would also be difficult for the US to not be on the court for the playing of the anthem. 

Unlike WNBA games when it's played about 10 minutes before tipoff, at the Olympics it's done right before the start of games.

That doesn't mean the women won't use the Olympic platform to continue to raise awareness.

She and her Olympic teammates locked arms before three exhibition games in Las Vegas last week and she expects that to continue during the Tokyo Games.

Bird, who was a US flag bearer at the opening ceremony, believes people know where she and her WNBA teammates stand on social justice issues.

'We all want our country to be a better place and that´s what this is about,' she said.

'That's an athlete's mentality and there's really no better people to do that than athletes.   

'What do we do every single day? What do we talk about? Getting better. ... I think we should approach our country that way.'

Last year, Bird's WNBA team, the Seattle Storm, and its opponent, the New York Liberty, walked off the court during the playing of the national anthem before their WNBA season-opening game. 

The two teams' planned walk-off was part of the league's season-long Justice Movement initiative - designed to fight systemic racism and violence - which the WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Players Association announced earlier in July of last year. 

Players from the Storm and the Liberty headed for their locker rooms while the national anthem played at the WNBA bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Both teams then returned to the court and observed 26 seconds of silence in honor of Breonna Taylor, who was 26 years old when she was killed in March by police serving a no-knock warrant at her residence in Louisville, Kentucky. 

The players had her name printed on the backs of their jerseys under their own.

In a sign of solidarity, Layshia Clarendon of the Liberty and Breanna Stewart of the Storm addressed their teammates and the television audience before the season tip-off.

'We are dedicating this season to Breonna Taylor, an outstanding EMT who was murdered over 130 days ago in her home,' Clarendon said. 'Breonna Taylor was dedicated and committed to uplifting everyone around her.

'We are also dedicating this season to "Say Her Name" campaign, a campaign committed to saying the names and fighting for justice of Black women -- Black women are so often forgotten in this fight for justice, who don't have people marching in the streets for them,' Clarendon also said. 

'We will say her name. Sandra Bland. Atatiana Jefferson. Dominique Fells. Breonna Taylor. We will be a voice for the voiceless.' 

Players and staff also wore shirts that read 'Black Lives Matter' on the front and 'Say Her Name' on the back.

The WNBA's walk-off follows several MLB teams kneeling prior to their games to show unity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Some players were also seen taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. 

Taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency medical tech, was shot eight times on March 13 after police officers knocked down the front door of the home she shared with boyfriend Kenneth Walker in a drugs raid. No drugs were found in the home.

It is unclear which officer fired the shots which killed Taylor but a lawsuit filed by her family said the officers 'spray(ed) gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life.'

Taylor had no criminal record and worked for two local hospitals. The lawsuit alleges that the three police officers, who are now on administrative leave, fired at least 20 rounds into the home.

Last year, a grand jury formed by state Attorney General Daniel Cameron charged one officer with putting Taylor’s neighbors in danger but issued no charges related to her death.