Brittney Griner weeps after winning third Olympic gold medal: 'My country fought for me to get back'

PARIS — Brittney Griner won her third Olympic gold medal here on Sunday, but this one, she said, her first since 10 hellish months in a Russian, would "hold a special place amongst the other two."

Tears welled in her eyes as she stood on a podium, with the medal around her neck, and the “Star Spangled Banner” began to play.

It was around an hour after USA women's basketball squeaked by France, 67-66. Happiness flooded her. "My emotions are all over the place," she later said.

And the source of them was obvious.

“My country fought for me to get back,” Griner said. “And I was able to bring home gold for my country. There's just no greater feeling.”

This, the 2024 Olympics, was her first foreign trip since her harrowing, life-changing experience in 2022. Griner was detained at a Moscow airport for carrying a small amount of hash oil. She ultimately spent most of the year isolated behind bars, wondering whether she'd ever see her wife and family, or feel the comforts of home, or play basketball, again.

Her train rides with USA Basketball here in France were her first overseas since “a prison train” in Russia, she said.

After returning home in a high-profile prisoner swap, she didn’t immediately return to the national team, because she “needed a little more time than she thought,” head coach Cheryl Reeve said.

But she ultimately did return. Counseling and therapy helped her process the trauma. “She always presents the very best version of herself, despite all that she went through,” Reeve said — and even though, “inside, there’s a lot going on there.”

Griner made it to her third Olympic Games. And here at Bercy Arena, after scoring four points in the U.S. win, all of it “hit me pretty hard,” she said.

“I didn't think I would be here,” she continued. “And to be here, winning gold, for my country, representing, when my country fought for me so hard to even be standing here,” — that’s why this gold medal, compared to the other two, was different.

Teammates and coaches could tell, too. “She is thankful to be here. So thankful to be here,” Reeve said.

“It’s a huge moment for BG. We all know what she’s gone through,” A’ja Wilson said. “It was so good just to see her happy.”