Fans wearing the red, white and blue of the United States hung a simple white banner with handwritten black letters over the railing in the first row of Bercy Arena. There was no way the players could miss it behind the basket near the U.S. bench.
“Griner” it said, “#15”
In her first international appearance after her almost ten months of detention in Russia, Brittney Griner has won the support of her fans in France and is accepting the experience and support with gratitude and joy.
“There was a time when I didn’t know if I would ever play for the United States again or even play basketball at all,” Griner said after the U.S.’ quarterfinal win over Nigeria on Wednesday. “And I think it just means more to me now.”
Griner – known as BG to teammates and fans – had five points and three rebounds in the 85-64 semifinal win over Australia on Friday at Bercy Arena. She had previously scored 11 points and three rebounds in the win over Nigeria.
The two-time WNBA scoring champion plays a supporting role on a team with 67 WNBA All-Star appearances, but Griner is still making her presence felt. Her first touch after coming off the bench in Wednesday’s quarterfinals was a convincing block.
“You bring Brittney Griner off the bench? I mean, that’s just a whole different level,” said German head coach Lisa Thomaidis after the USA’s 87-68 victory in the group stage. “They’re not the best team in the world for no reason.”
The United States is one win away from its unprecedented eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal. That would be a record for a traditional team sport at the Olympics and would surpass the seven consecutive gold medals won by the U.S. basketball team from 1936 to 1968. The U.S. women have not lost an Olympic game since 1992, a streak of 60 straight games.
Griner, a 10-time WNBA All-Star, has already won two gold medals. But returning to the Olympic arena feels different this time, she says. After pleading guilty to smuggling when Russian customs officials found cartridges containing less than a gram of hashish oil in her luggage, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison. She worked in a penal colony cutting fabric for military uniforms, slept with her legs over a bed that was far too small for her 6-foot-1 frame, and cut off her trademark dreadlocks, which froze in the bitter winter cold.
Read more: Full coverage: US offers Russia deal for Brittney Griner’s release
In comparison, Griner now finds even the toughest training fun.
“All of those little moments mean so much,” Griner said. “Waking up, going to practice, even if you don’t want to practice, having the opportunity to do it because we overlook it. That’s the opportunity we get and I just appreciate every second that I can right now.”
WNBA players took the initiative to make Griner’s return possible. They tweeted about her every day, wore jerseys with her face and played on courts with her number and initials. She returned to the league in an emotional, season-long welcome tour. Fighting for an Olympic gold medal on the national team “wouldn’t be the same without her,” Breanna Stewart said.
“She’s a remarkable person,” said Diana Taurasi, who has played with Griner since the former Baylor star was drafted first overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2013. “I know we see her as an intimidating, dominant force on the court. But I always say she’s the person with the biggest heart.”
Averaging 17.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA season and a half since her return, Griner remains as imposing a force on the court as she is cheerful off it. Before leaving the court against Nigeria, Griner signed the banner fans had hung with her name on it. She crumpled it up and threw it back to fans in the front row before walking away, pointing at the fans with a smile. After the game, she jokingly attempted to walk through the media mixed zone by half-covering her face, as if no journalist would see her towering figure.
Already an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and organizing an annual shoe drive with the Mercury, Griner’s influence off the court has grown even more since her return. She’s partnered with Bring Our Families Home to represent Americans wrongfully imprisoned overseas, and less than two years after stepping back on American soil at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, she celebrated a similar homecoming story for four U.S. citizens and residents, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who were released last week in a prisoner exchange.
“I am incredibly happy for the families right now,” Griner told reporters last Thursday.
Griner had played for one of Russia’s top teams, UMMC Ekaterinburg, in every WNBA offseason since 2015, but vowed she would never play professionally overseas again except for the U.S. national team. At 33, it was probably time to end that phase of her career anyway, Griner said.
Now it’s time for her growing family.
Read more: Why Brittney Griner was in Russia and what that says about women’s sports in the USA
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, gave birth to their son, Bash, on July 8, just days before Griner was set to leave for Olympic preparations. Griner said she suddenly felt even more pressure because she was being looked at in a new light, even though Bash is not yet able to compete in the Games at this age. When he grows up and realizes that Griner left him at home to go to Paris when he was three weeks old, he might be angry, she joked.
But she will make it worth it.
“Hopefully,” Griner said with a smile, “we can get the gold and I can put it next to him.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
