More than two years ago, Brittney Griner was detained in a Russian prison without hope of returning to America and basketball.
On Sunday, the 33-year-old WNBA star stood with teammates and accepted a gold medal win at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In mid-February 2022, days before Russia invaded Ukraine, Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after a vape cartridge containing cannabis oil was found in her luggage. Griner had a recommendation from an American doctor for the medication but was arrested and sentenced August 4, 2022 to serve nine years in a Russian penal colony. An October 2022 appeal was denied.
Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury since 2013, was traveling in Russia because she played for the UMMC Ekaterinburg in Yekaterinburg, the third largest city in Russia, during off seasons. She was released in a prisoner exchange in early December 2022.
As reported by the Associated Press on Sunday, the U.S. arranged another high-profile prisoner exchange just hours before Griner took the court for pool play in Paris and she felt “head over heels” happy knowing more Americans were on their way home.
“Waking up, going to practice, even when you don’t want to practice, having the opportunity to do that, because we overlook it,” she said. “That’s the opportunity that we get to do and I just cherish every second I can now.”
Teammate Diana Taurasi helped lobby for Griner’s return during her detention in Russia and stood two teammates away from Griner during the medal ceremony and anthem in Paris. Taurasi said she could sense Griner’s emotions and called it almost “mind-boggling” that Griner got back to this point.
“She’s a person that is grateful for all the support that she got through all this,” Taurasi said. “And it wasn’t easy. And it’s still not easy for her. She still carries a big burden … to make sure everyone gets out. She carries that burden really heavy on her back.”
Griner scored four quick points and two rebounds during the game for the U.S. women’s basketball team.
The victory was celebrated on the basketball court with hugs at Bercy Arena, essentially a road game for the U.S. team.
“The gold (medal game) is just the icing on the cake, being in the Olympics … as well,” Griner said.
At midcourt, the team took photos and Griner took out a phone for the team selfie with her right hand and held her latest gold medal in her left hand. With her third Olympic gold medal around her neck, Griner looked at the American flag as tears streamed down her face and the National Anthem played.
Griner spent 10 months in a Russian prison and earned an Olympic gold medal 612 days after her release.
“This one meant a lot to me,” Griner said after the U.S. held off France 67-66 to win an unprecedented 8th straight gold medal in women’s basketball. “I mean, just having a chance to play for gold, represent my country, what my country did for me? Yeah, this is the highest on the pinnacle right here.”
Griner has said she will never play international basketball again. Her plans for now include enjoying her newborn son with wife, Cherelle Griner.
“It was a long journey, a hard journey to get back into it,” Griner said. “I’m just happy that my body was able to hold up and be able to be here.”
Griner previously played on the U.S. women’s basketball team in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and in 2021 in Tokyo. In Tokyo, she led the U.S. with 30 points, which is the most points ever scored by a U.S. player in a gold-medal game.
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Rebecca Barnabi
