Brittney Griner says playing for Team USA has new meaning after time in Russian prison

The 2024 Paris Olympics will take on a particularly special meaning for Brittney Griner.

The WNBA star will be competing for her country for the third time in Paris — and the first time since she was detained in Russia on drug charges for nearly 10 months in 2022.

“BG is locked in and ready to go,” Griner told NBC News on Friday. “I’m happy, I’m in a great place. I’m representing my country, the country that fought for me to come back. I’m gonna represent it well.”

Griner will also be competing in Paris for the first time as a parent. She and her wife had a son, Bash, on July 8. Griner isn’t thrilled to be leaving him so soon, but said since he’s growing up in a sports family, one day he’ll understand.

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“Every minute I feel like he’s popping into my head,” Griner said. “Literally everything revolves around him. And I love it.”

Griner says the upcoming games will “100% mean more” than her previous Olympic experiences, adding that she will be playing for the country that “literally saved my life.”

The Paris games will be the first time Griner has left the country since her Russian detainment. In February 2022, she was arrested in Moscow on drug smuggling charges after vape cartridges were found in her luggage at the airport. She was eventually tried, found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 after a prisoner exchange between the two countries.

Since then, she has resumed her WNBA career and continued to thrive. Griner was a WNBA All-Star in 2023 and again this year, currently averaging 18.3 points and 6.4 rebounds a night for the Phoenix Mercury.

Already a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Griner expects to bring home one more from Paris. As for what else about the games excites her, she expects to watch a good amount of track and field, a sport she’s always been envious of. She’ll also be hanging out in the basketball players’ lounge, possibly challenging some players from the men’s team to games of Uno.

And of course, Griner knows what she’s most interested in exploring during her first trip to Paris.

“Getting some really good bread, I’m not even gonna lie.”