Brittney Griner was among the WNBA players who spoke out about the national anthem in 2020 amid a summer of racial unrest following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Griner said in 2020 that the WNBA shouldn’t play the national anthem, adding the league should “take that much of stand.” She also walked off the court before the anthem was played before a game that season.
Gold medalists Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Griner stand on the podium with bronze medalist Jade Melbourne of Australia. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
But since then, Griner has gone through tumult. She was imprisoned for nearly 10 months in Russia after she was arrested on drug charges in February 2022. The U.S. and Russia would agree to a prisoner swap and the ordeal seemed to change Griner’s stance about what “The Star-Spangled Banner” means to the country.
Griner was seen with the gold medal around her neck after the U.S. women’s basketball team defeated France at the Paris Olympics and in tears as the anthem blared.
“I didn’t think I would be here,” she said of the 2024 Paris Olympics, via Reuters. “And then to be here and winning gold for my country, representing when my country fought for me so hard to even be standing here. This gold medal is going to hold a special place among the other two I was fortunate to win.”
A’ja Wilson called Griner a “warrior” as she described the Phoenix Mercury center’s time with Team USA more than two years after her arrest abroad.
U.S. head coach Chery Reeve added that Griner was “grateful” to be with Team USA.
“She was so thankful to be here… I think we all should just keep checking on her because it’s unfathomable what she went through,” Reeve said.