Five months after the end of her nightmare, Brittney Griner, detained ten months in Russia, became a basketball player again with the Phoenix Mercury on Friday, greeted by a standing ovation at the opening game of the WNBA season in Los Angeles.
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You have to get back to work and know how to put everything aside, "said Griner, about the emotions that crossed her during this moment as solemn as warm, at the microphone of ESPN, which broadcast this game live.
The Crypto.com Arena, certainly sparse but where Kamala Harris was present, would not fail to reserve such a welcome to Griner, on the occasion of this meeting marking a return to normal for the star, double Olympic champion with Team USA in 2016 and 2020.
Brittney Griner, detained ten months in Russia, became a basketball player again with the Phoenix Mercury, on Friday Jayne Kamin-Oncea / REUTERS
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Thank you for everything you did to support Brittney, because I know it was tough. It was very difficult for you, because a team is a team - it's family," the vice-president told the Mercury players she visited in the locker room.
The last time Griner stepped on a floor in the North American league was on October 17, 2021, in the fourth game of the final loss to the Chicago Sky. That's 579 days.
At each of her actions, fans of both teams loudly cheered on the 32-year-old.
As for his previous competitive match, it was 474 days ago in the Russian league, with Ekaterinburg.
The pivot was arrested in February 2022 at a Moscow airport with a vape and liquid containing cannabis, a product banned in Russia. She was preparing to draw for the Yekaterinburg team during the American offseason.
Brittney Griner, detained ten months in Russia, became a basketball player again with the Phoenix Mercury, on Friday Jayne Kamin-Oncea / REUTERS
«A day of joy»
In August, she was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment and, after her appeal was rejected, transferred in November to a penal colony in central Russia.
Brittney Griner was finally exchanged in December for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, a prisoner in the United States.
Over the past five months, she has been training and preparing to return to the dominant interior she once was. And for this game of recovery finally largely lost (94-71) by her team against the Los Angeles Sparks, she more than convinced, finishing top scorer (18 pts at 7/9 shooting, 6 rbds, 4 blocks).
At each of her actions, fans of both teams loudly cheered on the 32-year-old, who is also a figure in the LGBT+ community. "It's a day of joy," Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard said in her pre-game speech. "Throughout last season, I started every press conference by reminding us of how many days she had been gone. And until the day we found out she was about to come home, no one thought it was going to happen.
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It was heavy every day. But it's great to have this match today. It's a miracle that she's here and everyone who attends this game today will witness a miracle: she came back from a Russian prison and is playing basketball in the WNBA again. It is thanks to the strength and will of so many people that this happened," she added.