Brittney Griner is no stranger to wearing Team USA's name on her basketball jersey at the Olympics, but a more reflective player heads to Paris considering what's happened since the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Griner, a two-time gold medalist for the United States, was in a Russian prison two years ago after being sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling after the Federal Customs Service found her traveling with vaping cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil, which is illegal in Russia.
Griner would later be released in a high-profile prisoner exchange that included Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” who was serving a 25-year federal sentence on charges of conspiring to kill American citizens and officials, among others.
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Brittney Griner #15 and Diana Taurasi #12 of the USA Basketball Women's National Team stretch during practice as part of the USA Basketball Showcase 2024 on July 22, 2024 in London, England at City Sport. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Before playing in the WNBA All-Star Game, where Griner, a star for the league's Phoenix Mercury, spoke about how she gets chills now wearing her Team USA jersey.
“It means the world to me, honestly,” Griner told The Associated Press. “For me to now have the honor of putting it back on and potentially winning gold is the icing on the cake for everything.”
Griner hasn't always sung this tune, having previously suggested the WNBA shouldn't play the national anthem before its games in 2020, when social unrest was at the forefront during the Black Lives Matter protests.
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“I think we should take that stance,” Griner, who also knelt during the national anthem, told The Arizona Republic in July 2020.
But when Griner returned home from Russia, where she had gone to supplement her WNBA income by playing internationally, she said her appreciation of the anthem was different.
“It's like when you go to the Olympics, you're sitting there, about to have the gold medal placed around your neck, the flags go up and the anthem plays, it just sounds different to you,” she said after hearing the anthem for the first time since returning to the United States.
Griner also recently responded to critics who called her un-American for kneeling during the anthem, saying she was “shocked” by their words during an appearance on “The View.”
“Everyone has made a mistake before,” Griner said, responding to people who called her “careless.” “The unpatriotic thing surprises me, because, first of all, my father fought for this country, in 1968, 1969, with the Marines in Vietnam and law enforcement for over 30 years. My father was my hero. I wanted to be a police officer. I didn’t want to play basketball when I was a kid, I wanted to be a police officer and go into the military, actually. And doesn’t it make me more American to demonstrate at a protest? That’s my right as an American, so I was shocked to be called un-American.”
Brittney Griner during the US Women's Basketball Team training session at CitySport, The Franklin Building, London, ahead of playing Germany at The O2 Arena in London in preparation for the Paris Olympic Games on July 22, 2024, in London, England. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
As she prepares to travel abroad again, Griner feels very “protected” with Team USA.
“It's different, very different,” he explained. “The level of comfort and security we have now makes it much easier.”
Griner also has plenty to celebrate off the court these days, as he announced that his wife, Cherelle, gave birth to their son, Bash, on July 8. He admitted it will be difficult to be away from them while representing his country.
Team USA head coach Cheryl Reeve spoke about Griner and what she's about to experience abroad for the first time since her imprisonment in Russia.
“Think beyond the Olympics to someone's personal experience and what she went through and is still going through,” Reeve said. “We were all thinking about BG when she was away, and we didn't know if this moment would be possible. I'm so happy for her personally and so happy for our basketball team.”
Brittney Griner #15 of the USA Basketball Women's National Team poses for a portrait during training camp in Phoenix, Arizona on July 17, 2024 as part of the WNBA All-Star Game. (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Team USA, looking to win another gold medal, will play its first Olympic game against Japan in the group stage on July 29 in Lille, France.
Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
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