PARIS : On the highest step of the Olympic podium, U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner wept, tears trickling down her face as her country's national anthem serenaded her for a gold medal she could not have imagined winning while in a Russian prison.
Paris 2024 Olympics - Basketball - Women's Victory Ceremony - Bercy Arena, Paris, France - August 11, 2024. Gold medallist Brittney Griner of United States cries during the national anthem. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Griner, who had played professionally in Russia in addition to playing in the WNBA, was detained February 2022 in a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. Griner, who had a medical marijuana prescription in the United States, spent nearly 10 months in detention. Griner, who was also on the gold medal-winning teams at the Rio and Tokyo Games, was released in December 2022 in a high-profile prisoner exchange involving arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the"Merchant of Death", and returned to the WNBA for the 2023 season.
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