After spending almost 10 months in a Russian prison after being arrested for drug charges in 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner cried over the weekend during the United States national anthem after winning gold at the Olympics.
The formerly outspoken critic of the national anthem could be seen wiping her tears during the performance Sunday.
“You have the right to protest, the right to be able to speak out, question, challenge and do all these things,” Griner said.
“What I went through and everything, it just means a little bit more to me now. So I want to be able to stand. I was literally in a cage [in Russia] and could not stand the way I wanted to,” she continued.
“Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100 percent. That’s our right, as an American in this great country.”
“It means so much to me,” Griner said. “I didn’t think I’d be here, like I’ve said before. And then to be here winning gold for my country, representing, when my country fought so hard for me to even be standing here – yeah, this gold is going to hold a special place.”
In August 2022, a judge in Russia convicted Griner of drug possession and smuggling and sentenced her to nine years in prison.
Griner reacted to the sentence with little emotion. She listened to the verdict from the defendant’s cage, a blank stare on her face.
The basketball star said she had no intention to break the law by bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country when she flew to Moscow in February 2022 to play basketball in the city of Yekaterinburg.
