An emotional Brittany Griner shed tears Sunday as the U.S. national anthem played during her basketball team’s gold medal Olympic ceremony, savoring the freedom she regained more than two years ago after spending 10 months in a Russian prison.
“This one meant a lot to me,” she said after the U.S. eked out a 67-66 victory over France. “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 was freed from a Russian penal colony, where she had been sentenced to nine years for possessing and smuggling drugs, in a December 2022 prisoner exchange. The Phoenix Mercury center had been playing in Russia during the NBA offseason when she was detained after Russian authorities said her luggage contained vape canisters with cannabis oil.
She had pleaded guilty but said it was an “honest mistake” and she had not meant to pack them. Nonetheless, she was sentenced and wasn’t freed until the U.S. released Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
After that Griner swore off playing internationally unless it was with USA Basketball.
Paris was her first Olympics since her release, and it was something she’d thought she might never be able to do again. Donning the uniform again “means everything to me,” she said at the start of the games in Paris. “For me to now have the honor to wear it again and potentially win gold is icing on the cake for everything.”
Griner helped her team win its third gold medal — her tears flowing as it was awarded.
“It was a long journey, a hard journey to get back into it,” said Griner, 33. “I’m just happy that my body was able to hold up and be able to be here.”
With News Wire Services
Originally Published: