Aug 4, 2024; Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France; United States centre Brittney Griner (15) celebrates with teammates after defeating Germany in a girls’s group C recreation throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer time Video games at Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Necessary Credit score: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports activities PARIS — When she was in a Russian penal colony, Brittney Griner was undecided she would ever play basketball once more, not to mention play in her third Olympic gold-medal recreation on the Paris Video games.
The 33-year-old Griner, who had performed professionally in Russia along with taking part in within the WNBA, was detained in a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her baggage in February 2022. She spent practically 10 months in detention.
“I did not even know if I might play basketball, actually,” Griner mentioned after the USA’ 85-64 semi-final win in opposition to Australia on the Bercy Area in Paris on Friday.
“It was an extended journey, a tough journey to get again into it. I am simply completely happy that my physique was in a position to maintain up and be capable of be right here.”
Griner had a prescription in the USA for medical marijuana and pleaded responsible to prices of possessing and smuggling unlawful medication, saying she had made an trustworthy mistake.
After her launch in December 2022 in a high-profile prisoner change involving arms seller Viktor Bout, referred to as the “Service provider of Loss of life,” Griner returned to the WNBA for the 2023 season.
She mentioned being again together with her household on U.S. soil was what saved her basketball profession alive.
“With the ability to see my household once more. Having the ability to not miss little reminiscences, issues that I took as a right that I do not take as a right anymore,” Griner mentioned.
“The gold (medal recreation) is simply the icing on the cake, being within the Olympics… as properly.”
A prepare journey to Lille, the place the group stage of the Olympic event was performed, briefly reminded Griner of her time in Russia. She had not traveled on a railway since a Russian prepare took her to a jail colony in 2022.
“There was slightly second of tension and simply sort of reliving it for a second,” mentioned Griner, whose journey to the Paris Olympics marked the primary time she has traveled overseas since her Russian ordeal.
“I simply centered again on all of the little issues that I discovered from counseling, simply grounding myself,” she mentioned. “It has been good ever since.”
The US will face the winners of the semi-final between France and Belgium within the gold-medal recreation on Sunday.
–Reuters, Particular to Subject Stage Media
