Brittany Griner responded bluntly to a Caitlin Clark fan who mocked the U.S. women’s basketball team in Paris. Today we will discuss about Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade.
Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade
Geopolitics around the world are always the backdrop of the modern Olympic Games, and there is perhaps no American athlete who can represent it better this year than Brittany Griner.
Griner is a two-time Olympian for Team USA women’s basketball, but she will experience the 2024 Paris Olympics from a very different perspective. The Phoenix Mercury star, who emerged as a dominant force at Baylor a decade ago, recently returned from a toe injury and will play the inside role for Team USA for the third consecutive Olympics. In his last appearance with Team USA, Griner set a new Olympic finals record by scoring 30 points during the 2020 gold medal game in Tokyo.
However, between now and then, Griner was arrested and imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months, ultimately involving President Joe Biden, the State Department, the Kremlin, and a notorious Russian arms dealer.
2024 Paris Olympics: Follow USA TODAY’s full coverage here
What actually happened? Here’s what you need to know ahead of Griner’s return to the international stage in Paris:
2024 Olympic medals: Who leads in medal count? Follow along as we take a look at the medals for each sport.
Griner was detained on drug-related charges at Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow in February 2022 while traveling abroad. Customs officials in Russia alleged they found vape cartridges containing cannabis-derived oil in Griner’s luggage, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“We are aware of the situation with Brittany Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA,” Griner’s agent Lindsey Kagawa Colas said at the time. , “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case, but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health is our primary concern.” Has been made.”
Russia arrest
Brittany Griner admits there were days when she couldn’t muster the energy to believe getting out of a Russian prison was possible.
Moments like the USA wearing their jerseys before the Olympic team’s practice here on Saturday were beyond comprehension.
Griner was detained at Moscow airport on February 17, 2022, with a small amount of hashish oil. She thought she was going abroad to play professional ball in the country. Instead she became a political touchstone, eventually sentenced to nine years in a bleak penal colony for “drug trafficking”.
Hope? Hoping for an early release? Hope for freedom?
Hope was in short supply.
Hope “was a dangerous thing,” Griner said. “Because you have to accept it at a certain point. There were points where I thought, ‘It is what it is.'”
The State Department deemed him “wrongfully detained” and in December 2022 the federal government arranged a prisoner swap for a Russian arms dealer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United States.
This secured Griner’s freedom, but brought him additional criticism from some Americans who did not approve of the deal for the prisoner known as “The Merchant of Death”.
After boarding her first international flight since returning from Russia, she is now back in France representing a country about which there are many opinions. This is his third Olympics, but it is different in many ways, and not just because he now has his wife and young son back home. Memories of Russia always come to mind.
“It always sticks with me,” Griner said Saturday. “There are definitely moments where it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this could have been completely different. I could have seen this beautiful view through the bar.’ It doesn’t go away. It makes you appreciate everything a little more.”
Griner was raised in a military family in Texas. Playing for the United States was always the ultimate goal, even better than her 2012 NCAA championship at Baylor or the 2014 WNBA title with Phoenix.
Released
Griner has a reputation for being kind and laid-back, a stark contrast to her on-court play, where she has what teammate Diana Taurasi calls an “intimidating, imposing force.” Here at the Olympics, she’s the center of attention, with other U.S. Olympians repeatedly cheering and congratulating her during Friday’s opening ceremony.
Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade
“Athletes are coming up to me who have heard my story [saying] they’ve prayed for me,” he said. “it means a lot.”
He never expected this. Never wanted this. However, just being here has inspired his team.
“What BG has gone through over the last few years is clearly unprecedented,” Taurasi said. “For him to be able to wear this jersey back, to be at the opening ceremony last night. …I know she feels grateful, grateful.
“It’s remarkable when you think about that personal, extremely painful situation,” said American coach Cheryl Reeve. “The way we personally felt for him. Disappointment. Loss of hope. The things she went through. It is noteworthy that she is playing this game and is back playing in the Olympics. I often think how difficult it would be.”
Griner anticipates she will become emotional over the entire experience, comparing representing the United States to a Russian prison. She said she was trying to help the Americans win their eighth consecutive gold medal.
“I’m trying to tell myself that we don’t have time to hold (emotions) captive,” she said. “But there are going to be emotions here or there. There will be emotions everywhere. But it’s the Olympics, I think there are a lot of emotions for everyone.”
There were days when he didn’t even bother to dream of such a thing, even to dream of getting out he never bothered because it was too hard, too heavy, too impossible. Just dreaming caused him more pain than he could bear.
“So when that day came, it was even sweeter,” she said. “…I appreciate everything more now. Feeling connected, seeing everyone, seeing the sights.
Wife
Brittany Griner will have another fan cheering her on this Olympic season.
The WNBA star and his wife Cherelle welcomed their first child on July 8, Griner, 33, revealed on the “She Knows Sports” podcast on Friday.
“He’s my man,” Griner revealed when asked about his son. “She’s amazing. They say that as soon as you see her, everything you thought goes out the window. And that’s literally what happens.”
The two-time gold medalist will leave for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the coming week.
Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade
Griner called himself “Pops”, saying, “This sucks, I have to go.” “But at the same time, he’ll understand… my entire phone has turned into that now.”
The couple initially posted the pregnancy announcement on Instagram in April.
Griner will play for Team USA in Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game before the Olympics. He has averaged 18.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 15 games for the Phoenix Mercury this season.
The new joy and successful basketball season in 2022 comes after Griner spent nearly a year in detention in Russia after being unjustly sentenced to nine years for drug trafficking.
Griner, who played in the offseason for the Russian women’s basketball team for years, was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 after authorities found cannabis oil in her luggage.
He later apologized repeatedly and said he had unknowingly packed less than a gram of the substance. Her lawyers said Griner was given cannabis oil for “severe chronic pain”.
The 10-time All-Star was released in December 2022 in a prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the US. He was first taken to a penal colony in Mordovia.
Senior U.S. administration officials said that months of “difficult” negotiations with the Russians ended in the exchange, despite Griner’s release in the weeks leading up to it becoming clear that the United States would be required to secure the basketball player’s return. There was an opportunity.
Height
| Born | October 18, 1990 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (206 cm) |
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
Trade
Before Brittney Griner was winning WNBA scoring championships, she was making her mark in the NCAA. The 10-time WNBA All-Star played four seasons at Baylor before her time in the pros.
As the Team USA women’s basketball team attempts to win gold for the 10th time, here’s a look back at Griner’s time at Baylor:
Griner won AP Player of the Year and Naismith Player of the Year awards twice. In his junior and senior seasons in 2012 and 2013, Griner won both of these awards, establishing himself as the consensus best player in the country.
Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade
In the 2012 season, when Griner and the Bears won the national championship while completing a 40–0 season, Griner won NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. In his other season in Waco, Griner made it to the Final Four, Elite Eight, and Sweet 16.
Griner is well represented in the Big 12 record book. She is a three-time Big 12 Player of the Year, three-time Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player, three-time Big 12 Tournament Champion and four-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Griner is one of two women’s college basketball players to have multiple dunks in a game. She became the seventh player to dunk during a women’s college basketball game in 2009, when she recorded her first dunk.
Brittney Griner Kneeling: Russia arrest,Released,Wife,Height,Trade
Griner has the most NCAA (men’s and women’s) blocks in a career with 748. In her junior season, Griner averaged five blocks per game, blocking more shots than any other Division I women’s team that season. Griner also holds the NCAA Tournament record for most blocked shots in a single game with 14 and the women’s record for most blocked shots in a single tournament with 35.
Brittany Griner – Baylor – 2009-13 (freshman-senior):
Personal Honors:
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2012)
AP Player of the Year (2012, 2013)
2x Naismith Player of the Year (2012, 2013)
Honda Sports Award (2012)
2× First-Team All-American – AP (2011, 2012)
Second Team All-American – AP (2010)
3× Big 12 Play
