Brittney Griner Explains Why Tears Were Streaming At The Olympics
You're damn right Brittney Griner was crying tears of joy Sunday during the gold medal ceremony after the women won gold in basketball.
After spending 10 months in a Russian hellhole with a nine-year sentence, Griner stood there listening to the "Star Spangled Banner" knowing full well her ass has it pretty damn good in the United States.
"My emotions are all over the place," Griner told media outlets after the anthem tears flowed. "My country fought for me to get back, and I was able to bring home gold for my country. There's just no greater feeling."
Brittney Griner cries as the national anthem plays after defeating France in the women’s basketball gold medal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. / James Lang-USA TODAY Sports
It's quite the pivot from 2020 Griner who said the anthem doesn't belong in sports. "When the national anthem deemed the National Anthem (in 1931), black people didn't have rights at that point. It's hard disrespecting a song that didn't even represent all Americans when it was first made," the WNBA star said at the time.
Griner has continuously reminded the media that her dad is a Vietnam veteran who had a 30-year career as a cop and that she wanted to be a cop before pursuing basketball.
Despite her previous disdain for the anthem, the Russian prison system has changed Griner's perspective on the United States.
"My wife and I [used to enjoy going] down to Mexico for a bit. But now I’m just like, ‘Nah, I can’t do it.' We can go to a beach in America. There’s plenty of beaches here. There were countries I wanted to visit before, but [not] now," she told PEOPLE in May.
So why go to Paris for the Olympics?
Griner told PEOPLE "the same country that brought me home would protect its Olympic athletes."
("I undressed and found the cleanest part of the floor," Griner wrote in her book "Coming Home" about her first Russian prison shower experience. "I turned the faucet on, and rusty brown water came spouting out." / Getty Images)
Just how bad was that Russian prison system?
In her book "Coming Home," released this year, Griner explains just how bad it is when Russia takes your freedom.
"In the WNBA, my teammates and I joked about the prison showers — a big space with spouts spread around. This was the real thing," she wrote. "It was nasty, exposed pipes on every wall. Long hair strands all over the tile floor and gathered in the drains. A bloody tampon was tucked between two pipes. As much as I was disgusted by the scene, I was just as repulsed by my stench."
That anthem hits differently when you have that in your memory bank.
"I undressed and found the cleanest part of the floor," she wrote. "I turned the faucet on, and rusty brown water came spouting out."
After getting over the mental hurdle of the water color the "hot water felt so good on my skin. I closed my eyes tight, trying to forget where I was. I thought of Relle [her wife] and home and all I had left behind," Griner wrote.
"Down the water slid from my dreads onto the floor splashing away the hell I endured. I stayed in there a good 30 minutes until I banged on the door for the guard to let me out. That was the nastiest shower I’d ever taken. It was also the best."
That's why Brittney Griner was crying Sunday in Paris.