MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The U.S. women's basketball team began Olympic play today with a dominant win over Japan. The game was also Brittney Griner's return to overseas play after the two-time Olympic gold medalist was imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months on drug charges. She had said she would never play overseas again unless it was to represent her country at the Olympics. Our co-host Juana Summers reports from Paris.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Brittney Griner's return to the Olympics was almost impossible to imagine when the world watched as she was shackled in a Russian court and sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges. She'd been going through customs on her way to play a final season on a Russian Euro league team when vape cartridges with traces of doctor-prescribed cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
But in December 2022, she was released in a prisoner swap negotiated by the Biden administration. When I talked to Griner back in May, before she'd officially been named to Team USA, she imagined what the moment might feel like.
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BRITTNEY GRINER: That will be an amazing return back to overseas and to represent my country that literally came to my rescue. I wouldn't be here without my country. And to go and potentially win another gold medal for us would - it's just going to mean so much standing on that podium and watching a flag go up.
SUMMERS: Griner may well get the chance to watch the U.S. flag go up again. The women's basketball team has won seven straight Olympic gold medals and is in the hunt for an eighth. Griner's teammates say she's made a decision to move forward and to wrestle with the complicated emotions tied to her time in Russian imprisonment. Here's Diana Taurasi.
DIANA TAURASI: The situation she was in, obviously, we don't wish that upon anyone. And, you know, to this moment, there's still people overseas in situations just like her.
SUMMERS: Taurasi has watched this journey firsthand. She's also Griner's Phoenix Mercury teammate and friend.
TAURASI: So for her to be able to come back, to get on that flight, to come overseas, it was a big moment for her in a lot of ways. But I'm glad she did it 'cause she's a remarkable person. I know we see her on the court as being an intimidating dominant force, but I always say she's the person with the biggest heart.
SUMMERS: At the Olympics, the U.S. is in a pool with Japan, Belgium and Germany. The start of today's competition caps what has been a busy few weeks for Griner. She and her wife, Cherelle, welcomed their first child - a son - earlier this month.
Juana Summers, NPR News, Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF NUTZO SONG, "CLOSER TO MY DREAMS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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