Paris 2024 Olympic Games. American basketball star Brittney Griner’s return from detention in Russia

Released, rested and ready to play… American basketball star Brittney Griner is returning to Europe for the Paris Olympics, two years after being detained in Russia for eleven months. Apparently, only her hairstyle has changed since Britney Greener was last seen on the European continent. The 33-year-old pivot, who will line up for the USA against Japan this Monday, July 29, still impresses with his presence and charisma from his 2.06m height.

But the American experienced the darkest period of her career during her last visit to the Old Continent. In February 2022, he was arrested in Russia, where he was playing at a club in Yekaterinburg, possessing a vape and liquid containing cannabis, a banned product, and was sentenced to nine years in prison before finally being released in December 2022. exchange with the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. He revealed in April in an interview with the American ABC television channel that he spent 11 months in detention, during which he thought about suicide.

After her first training session at Stade Pierre-Moreau in Villeneuve-d’Asque in the suburb of Lille, the Houston (Texas) native appeared peacefully in front of the press on Thursday (July 25). “I am well: Everyone is wondering how it feels to be back here after everything, but I feel good and safe in France so I’m looking forward to playing.”

A big favorite in the Olympic tournament

Her seasons in the WNBA (Basketball League of North America) and Europe are now far from over. “Of course, at some point I will go there with my family to relax, but basketball in Europe is over for me. I want to spend time with my family, my little boy and I don’t want to miss anything. However, it was time to close this chapter, it just didn’t end the way I wanted it to.”

“We see him on the pitch as this strong and dominant player, but he’s the one with the biggest heart,” said teammate Diana Taurasi, captain of this star-studded side that makes its debut against Japan on Monday at 9 p.m. Greiner now aims to win the title with Team USA, the heavy favorite in the Olympic tournament, which he has defended seven times.

Brittney Griner will thus enhance a career already rich with titles and achievements. The very early American was considered a phenomenon for her height, shoe size (she wore a size 54) and the length of her arms, which she said were bigger than LeBron James’s. Griner pulls out a rare weapon in women’s basketball: the knife. Thus, she became the first woman in World Cup history to win the match against China in 2014.

A figure in the LGBT+ community

But his life goes far beyond the orange ball. In 2013, he came out as gay in a magazine interview Sports Illustrated. He explains that he was abused as a child. “It is hard: Being bullied because you’re different. Being tall, my sexuality, everything…”

A year later, he published his autobiography, In my skin. “I guess I started to feel different when everyone started telling me I was,” she wrote. In college, “I was flat and thin, my voice was low.” Children were making fun of him in the hallway. “He must be a boy. She’s not really a girl.” “You can pack your bags and get out of here,” her father yelled when she opened up about her sexuality.

A figure in the LGBT+ community, a native of Houston, Texas, who grew up with two sisters and a brother, has become Nike’s first gay muse, taking part in a photoshoot in which she wears men’s clothing. In 2020, amid historic protests against police violence against African-Americans following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Griner was one of the first basketball players to ask the WNBA to no longer play the national anthem before games. .

In addition to this activity off the court, the interior has built a remarkable record at club and national level, winning the last two World Cups and the last two Olympic gold medals. Here he is on his way to the third.