SAN ANTONIO – Brittney Griner returned to the United States Friday and was reunited with her wife nearly 10 months after her detention in Russia made the basketball star the most high-profile American jailed abroad and set off a political firestorm.
Griner’s status as an openly gay Black woman, her prominence in women’s basketball and her imprisonment in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LGBTQ community heightened concerns for her and brought tremendous attention to the case. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after her arrest complicated matters further.
The deal that brought home Griner, 32, in exchange for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. But the U.S. failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.
Asked if more such swaps could happen, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that “everything is possible,” noting that “compromises have been found” to clear the way for Thursday’s exchange.
Biden’s authorization to release Bout, the Russian felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” underscored the heightened urgency that his administration faced to get Griner home, particularly after the recent resolution of her criminal case on drug charges and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star, was seen getting off a plane that landed Friday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.
“So happy to have Brittney back on U.S. soil. Welcome home BG!” tweeted Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.
“We’re just so happy to have her back,” Vanessa Nygaard, head coach of the Mercury, said in an interview outside of the team’s Phoenix stadium.
“We are looking eagerly forward to welcoming her back to our community,” said Nygaard, adding that she hadn’t yet spoken with Griner.
Biden spoke by phone with Griner, who was reunited with her wife, Cherelle. U.S. officials who met her upon arrival said she was in “very good spirits” and appeared to be in good health, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who noted that she would be offered specialized medical services and counseling.
The WNBA star, who also played pro basketball in Russia, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February after Russian authorities said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil. The U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” – a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.
Griner pleaded guilty in July but still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case. She was sentenced to nine years.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed canisters with cannabis oil but said she had no criminal intent and accidentally packed them. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday’s swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and Bout had been flown home.
In releasing Bout, the U.S. freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the U.S. in 2010.
Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.
A timeline of key events in Brittney Griner’s career on and off the basketball court:
Oct. 18, 1990: Brittney Griner was born in Houston.
2009: Led Nimitz High School to Texas 5A girls basketball state championship game where they lost. The 6-foot-7 star dunked 52 times as a senior, including seven times in one game against Aldine High School.
2009-10: Set NCAA single season record with 223 blocks as a freshman at Baylor. Became the seventh women’s basketball player to ever dunk in college.
2011-12: Led Baylor to a 40-0 record and earned Associated Press Player of the Year honors averaging 23.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5 blocks.
April 3, 2012: Had 26 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks in NCAA title game as Baylor beat Notre Dame 80-61. She earned Most Outstanding Player honors of the Final Four.
April 15, 2013: Was No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, selected by the Phoenix Mercury.
2014: Helped Phoenix to 29-5 record – most wins in WNBA history – and the franchise’s third league championship.
Aug. 14, 2014: Got engaged to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson. Eight months later, they were both arrested on charges of assault and disorderly conduct after police responded to a fight between them.
May 15, 2015: Griner and Johnson were suspended seven games by the WNBA after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct charges.
2015 and 2016: Played in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg and won consecutive championships with that team. Has played in the winter with Ekaterinburg ever since.
Aug. 20, 2016: Helped lead U.S. to sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal at Rio Games.
June 18, 2019: Married Cherelle Griner.
Aug. 8, 2021: Helped U.S. win seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal at Tokyo Games. She averaged 16.5 points to lead the U.S.
Feb. 17, 2022: Arrested for drug possession at airport outside of Moscow while returning to her team in Russia from a FIBA World Cup qualifier break. Customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.
July 1, 2022: Trial started in court outside of Moscow.
July 7, 2022: Pled guilty to drug possession charges, saying: “There was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law.”
Aug. 4, 2022: Sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for drug possession.
Oct 25, 2022: Appeal of the prison sentence for drug possession was rejected by a Russian court.
Nov. 17, 2022: Griner was transferred to a penal colony in the western Russian region of Mordovia.
Dec. 8, 2022: Russia frees Griner in high-level prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Brittney Griner’s loved ones and extended basketball family were ecstatic when news broke Thursday about her release from a Russian prison and that she was on her way back to the United States.
It has been nearly 300 days since the WNBA star was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February, when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison in August. Now four months later, she’s headed home after the U.S. and Russia had a high-level prisoner exchange Thursday. The exchange did not include the return of another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.
“Today, my family is whole but as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole,” said Brittney’s wife, Cherelle Griner, at a White House briefing. “BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home.”
Griner, who turned 32 in October, was going back to Russia in February to play for her overseas team, UMKC Ekaterinburg. She went to Russia to supplement her WNBA salary, earning over $1 million to play in Russia.
“There has not been a day over the past 10 months where we all haven’t had Brittney Griner on our minds and in our hearts, and that has now turned into a collective wave of joy and relief knowing that she will soon be reunited with her family, the WNBA player community, and her friends,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who admitted to being very emotional when she heard the news this morning. “BG has shown extraordinary courage and dignity in the face of enormous adversity.”
While it’s unclear right now if Griner wants to ever play basketball again, she would be welcomed back with open arms by both the WNBA and USA Basketball. The WNBA season begins May 19. Engelbert said she’d give Griner and her family some space and time before any discussion about her return to the league.
“It’s been a long, horrible ordeal and we really look forward to her return and hearing her voice,” Engelbert said.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has been a prominent advocate for Griner’s return. Staley, who coached Griner on the 2020 Olympic team, feels that playing again could be helpful to the dominant center.
“It’s been a place in which we can block out everything else, join arms with our teammates. Listen to the incredible crowds that support our game. There’s so much love that the basketball community has for Brittney that they want to show her,” Staley said. “We want her back in her happy place. So I hope that Brittney laces them up. But if she does not, I truly would understand why. We’re still going to support it. We’re still going to lift her up.”
Staley said she broke down with tears of joy when she heard the news Thursday morning. Like Staley, WNBA players have done their best to keep Griner’s name in the national spotlight over the last eight months by talking about her in interviews and posting about her on social media.
On Thursday, they flooded social media with their joy.
“My heart is really singing with joy right now. Our sister is finally free,” WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike said. “This is a monumental moment for everyone who has shown compassion for our WNBA sister over the last 294 days since BG was wrongfully detained.”
Griner is under contract with the Phoenix Mercury, who were allowed by the league to pay her full salary of nearly $228,000 last season without it counting against their salary cap.
The team was thrilled that their eight-time All-Star was coming home.
“Miraculously, mercifully, the count of days detained has ended at 294, and our friend, our sister is headed back home where she belongs,” the Mercury said in a statement. “The emotions for our organization, just like for our fans and so many across the world, are those of joyous celebration, deep gratitude, grief for the time lost, and sincere hope for all families still awaiting the return of a loved one. BG’s strength in this process, her unwavering belief that resolution would come, and the hope she displayed every day is what kept all of us believing this day would come.”
Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas, pledged that “BG and our coalition of activist athletes” will be lending their voices to help free other Americans detained abroad, including Whelan.
“Throughout this ordeal, BG has carried herself with courage, grace and grit; and President Biden made us a promise, and then kept his word and did what was necessary to bring her home,” Colas said in a statement. “We are forever grateful for his follow-through on that commitment.”
