For nearly a year in 2022, Brittney Griner was detained in a Russian prison, never knowing if she would return home or play basketball ever again. And today, less than two years after being released as part of a prisoner exchange, Griner won her third Olympic gold medal.
Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, had previously won gold with Team USA at the Olympics in 2016 and 2021, but the meaning of today's gold medal very well may be the best of them all for Griner. The emotion she displayed afterward certainly seemed to indicate so.
As the American national anthem played throughout the arena in France, Griner stood with her hand held over her heart and tears running down her face.
Griner has been one of the best women's basketball players in the world since she was a star at Baylor University. A two-time National Player of the Year and a 2012 NCAA champion with the Bears, Griner became the Phoenix Mercury's No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft. Since then, she has earned 10 All-Star and six All-WNBA selections while anchoring the Mercury's defense.
However, in February 2022, while playing in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg, Griner was detained at an airport and charged with smuggling drugs into the country. The United States government labeled Griner as a “wrongfully detained” prisoner and, along with many others, called for her release.
She remained in Russian prison and was eventually sentenced to nine years in prison. During her time behind bars, Griner said she thought of suicide.
“I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks,” Griner told ABC’s Robin Roberts in an interview after her release.
Eventually, Griner was used as a part of a prisoner exchange, bringing her back to the United States while Russia received arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner explained her living conditions were very poor while in prison and that she would not be going overseas for anything other than the Olympics.
“If I make that team, that would be the only time I would leave U.S. soil and that's to represent the USA,” Griner said.
While playing in the Olympics in Paris, Griner said that she was “excited” to finish her overseas career “on [her] own terms.”
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