Brittney Griner has traveled an extraordinary path towards the third Olympic gold of her career. It was a long way from the Russian prison to the team in Paris.
20:17•Updated 20:36
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
PARIS. When Urheilu asked one specific question, of all time, at the press conference of the USA basketball team as a female player considered a five-time Olympic champion Diana Taurasi made it clear that the turn to answer belongs to him and him alone.
The question concerned Tauras, by Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson’s teammate Brittney Grinerwhose story is unmatched in its harshness.
Not only has Griner won Olympic gold with Tauras, 42, in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021, but the 33-year-old center is her teammate on the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a longtime close friend.
Griner’s suffering in brief: the woman ended up in a Russian prison in Mordva for 10 months when she was arrested in February 2022. The e-cigarette cartridges of the basketball star who played in Russia at the time contained cannabis oil, which is illegal in Finland’s eastern neighbor.
A dead-end judgment
The sentence was arbitrary and indiscriminate: nine years in prison. The issue was influenced by the high political tension between the USA and Russia surrounding the war in Ukraine that started in February 2022.
Conditions were dull:
– I wanted to kill myself several times during the first weeks. I was in such a bad mood. I have never felt so dirty, Griner told the ABC channel after his release.
Griner had to live in captivity in degrading conditions for about 10 months, until the USA and Russia agreed on a prisoner exchange. International arms dealer Viktor Bout got a plane ticket from the USA to his home country, Griner from Russia to the USA.
Physically exhausted
The prison time took a toll on Griner, both physically and mentally, but he has returned to the absolute top of his game. It’s a really tough performance, one of the most fascinating stories of the entire Paris event.
Diana Taurasi stated that her friend is one of the strongest and finest people in the entire Olympic event.
– When we know what he has been through, it says a lot about him that he earned his place on the Olympic team. He is a wonderful person and was able to put those events behind him. It would have been easy to dwell on them, but he didn’t do that, said Taurasi, who himself played 10 seasons in the Russian league.
Griner has said in public that returning to America was not only easy. His health had declined, a return to top basketball didn’t seem realistic.
Griner, who was signed to the Phoenix Mercury last year, was the subject of a huge amount of attention upon his return, which he also found confusing.
– At the same time, he thought about the people who had to stay there in those conditions (in Russian prisons) and he would like to help them all. If necessary, he would also help all of you in this hall, he is that kind of person, Diana Taurasi declared in the La Rhone media room of the Games media center.
Seven golds in a row
Women’s and men’s Olympic basketball will be played first in Lille and finally in Paris. The USA has won the women’s tournament every time since Atlanta in 1996.
Taurasi and already finished Sue Bird with their five golds, are the greediest metal giants in the sport’s Olympic history. Without miracles, Taurasi moves to the top of the statistics alone in Paris. The USA is once again the big advance favorite for the women’s tournament.
The sport, which entered the Olympic program from other countries in 1976, has only been won by the Soviet Union (in 1976 and 1980, when the USA was not involved) and the short-lived successor of the Soviet Union, the CIS in 1992.
The US women’s national basketball team begins its Olympic career on Monday against Japan.
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