PARIS — Standing on the medal stand with her third gold medal draped around her neck, Brittney Griner looked at the U.S. flag with tears streaming down her cheeks during the national anthem.
She didn’t wipe them away until after the anthem ended, never trying to hide how she feels representing her country 612 days after the U.S. got the American star home after 10 months in a Russian prison.
Not with all that this moment meant. Griner didn’t think she’d have this chance again. “This one meant a lot to me,” Griner said after the U.
S. held off France 67-66 to win an unprecedented eighth straight gold medal in women’s basketball Sunday. “I mean, just having a chance to play for gold, represent my country, what my country did for me? Yeah, this is the highest on the pinnacle right here.
” This gold medal victory capped a long road back for Griner, who was sitting in a Russian penal colony two years ago not sure if she would ever get home again, let alone play basketball or compete in a third Olympics being held in Europe so close to Russia. She had been sentenced to nine years behind bars for drug possession and smuggling in Russia, spending 10 months in jail before she was part of a high-profile prisoner exchange in December 2022. Griner, a Phoenix Mercury center who had been playing basketball in Russia during the WNBA offseason when she was detained, said she would never play internationally again except with USA Basketball.
Now, Griner has her third gold meda.