Brittney Yevette Griner is an American basketball player who became famous for her excellent play for the Phoenix Mercury team, leading it to victory at the WNBA Championship in 2014. Griner got into the public limelight in 2022 when she was arrested for a drug-related crime in Russia. Read more about the life and professional path of the athlete and the details of her scandalous detention at i-houston.
Sporting childhood
The future basketball star was born on October 18, 1990, in Houston to the family of a housewife and deputy sheriff who was also a Vietnam War veteran. Brittney grew up in a strict family and had an overprotective father.
In elementary school, the girl was often bullied by her peers because of her physical features: a flat, thin body and tall height. However, these characteristics were especially crucial in Brittney’s future sports career. A young athlete was training with a boys’ team. While still in junior school, a video with her dunks received several million views on YouTube.
The Griner family used to move around a lot. They lived in Oklahoma and Arizona for a while but eventually settled in their native Texas, where Brittney studied at Houston’s Nimitz High School. In high school, the girl played volleyball and basketball but gave special priority to the latter sport. While playing for Nimitz Cougars, she caught the attention of the coaches because of her ability to score a basket.
University team
After graduating from school in 2009, Griner obtained a basketball scholarship and entered Baylor University in Waco, Texas. While there, Brittney quickly gained fame for both defensive and offensive skills. During a game in 2010, Houstonian punched an opponent, breaking her nose. Griner was then suspended for two games.
In 2012 she led the university to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. Then the university team completed the perfect season with a score of 40-0. Griner won several awards as the best women’s collegiate player. In addition, the Associated Press news agency named her Player of the Year.
Griner decided to stay for the 2012–13 season, despite speculation that she would leave the university to participate in the Women’s National Basketball Association Draft. The university failed to defend its NCAA title. Nevertheless, Brittney won the Naismith and Wooden Awards again and a rating position in Associated Press.
Brittney finished her college career with 3,283 points, making her one of the best scorers in NCAA history. Thanks to her tall height (2.06 meters), the student set a record for the number of blocked shots (748). In 2019 she received a Bachelor of Science in Education from Baylor University.
WNBA and international career
In 2013, Brittney joined the WNBA and began playing for Arizona team Phoenix Mercury. In her professional debut in May 2013, she became the first WNBA player to hit the basket twice during one game. In 2014, the athlete blocked an unprecedented 129 shots and helped the Mercury defeat the Chicago Sky and win the WNBA title. In that and the next season, Griner was given the Defensive Player of the Year award.
The girl continued to be the leading player in the league over the next few seasons. In 2017 and 2019, she was the best in the WNBA in points per game. She also had the biggest number of blocked shots per game from 2013-2019. In 2020, for her personal reasons, the basketball player took part in only 12 games. She returned for the 2021 season then the Phoenix Mercury reached the championship final but lost to the Chicago Sky.
During the off-season, Griner competed for the U.S. Women’s National Team and earned its gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
In addition, she played in foreign leagues. Being motivated by good financial rewards, many WNBA players did the same thing too. Thus, they could increase their income. It should be mentioned that players were paid about 5 times more in Russia than in the United States.
In 2015, Griner played for Russia, in particular the UMMC Ekaterinburg, and the following year she helped them win the EuroLeague Finals. She was paid about $1 million per season.
Moreover, Brittney has become one of the best basketball players in the WNBA due to her quickfire attacking and scoring basket skills. She won a WNBA championship, 8 Women’s National Basketball Association All-Star awards, 4 EuroLeague titles and 2 Olympic gold medals.
Arrest
On February 17, 2022, Brittney was detained at an airport in Russia when she arrived to play in Ekaterinburg. Vape cartridges with cannabis oil, an illegal drug in that country, were found in her luggage.
A week later, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sparking a backlash from the side of the United States. Many considered the woman’s arrest to be politically motivated. This incident received wide publicity in the world media.
In July 2022, the trial of Griner began. The basketball player claimed that the cannabis oil in her belongings was packed by accident. Later, Brittney’s lawyers stated that the athlete had a medical prescription for the drug. The woman also testified that after her arrest, she was told to sign documents in Russian, even though she did not understand this language. On August 4, 2022, the basketball player was found guilty of drug smuggling with criminal intent and sentenced to 9 years in a maximum security prison.
Her imprisonment in wartime was not the sole concern of Americans, as Griner was a black lesbian woman who was held in a country that mistreats the LGBT representatives. In 2017, there was evidence in the Chechen Republic that gay people were tortured, arrested and killed there. The situation was aggravated, which led to an acceleration in the attempts to find ways to free the athlete.
In October 2022, a Russian court rejected Brittney’s appeal. Two months later, Russia and the United States considered a prisoner swap and released the Houstonian in exchange for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Private life
Griner came out as a lesbian in 2013. A year later, Brittney was recognized as the first openly lesbian sportswoman to sign a contract with Nike. She often spoke out on LGBTQ issues. In her memoir In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court, she described the challenges she faced as an African American lesbian.
In April 2015, Griner and fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson were arrested on charges of assault and rowdyism following an incident at their home. Both of the girls were found guilty of disorderly conduct, resulting in their suspension from 7 WNBA games. In addition, Brittney had to undergo 26 weeks of domestic violence counseling. In May 2015, the couple got married and gave birth to twins with IVF. Brittney subsequently called the marriage a mistake, so the couple divorced in 2016.
