Olympic Gold medalist Brittney Griner has been in the news for some time. Why is this WNBA player trending?
Brittney Griner is a WNBA player for the Phoenix Mercury and an Olympic gold medalist. The 31-year-old native Houstonian was a member of Team USA which won the Gold Medal in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She is a professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. Griner played college basketball for the Baylor Lady Bears in Waco, Texas. She is the only NCAA basketball player to both score 2000 points and block 500 shots.
In 2009, Griner was named the nation’s No.1 high school women’s basketball player by rivals.com. In 2012, the three-time all-American was named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Standing 6 ft 9 in (206 cm) tall, Griner wears a men’s U.S. size 17 shoe and has an arm span of 87.5 in (222 cm).
Griner is one of 11 women to receive an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship, a FIBA World Cup gold medal, and a WNBA championship. In February 2022 she was detained by Russian Customs after cartridges containing hashish oil had been found in her luggage. Her trial began on July 1 and she pleaded guilty to the charges.
Why is she trending in recent times?
As she was detained by the Russian custody for allegedly carrying the hashish oil in her luggage. On July 4th she sent a handwritten letter to the White House asking for President Joe Biden to secure her release.
According to CNN, this is what she wrote,
“I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you,” she wrote in the letter to Biden. “I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore. I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.”
As reported by The Guardian, Griner said that there was no intent behind all this and she never wanted to break the law.
“I’d like to plead guilty, your honour,” Griner announced in court on Thursday. “But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” she added. Griner said that she unintentionally carried the cannabis oil with her because she had packed in a hurry
It will be interesting to see whether she gets her release or not as the next court hearing has been scheduled for July 14. Cannabis oil is an illegal substance in Russia, and if charged with large-scale transportation of drugs, Griner could face up to 10 years in prison.
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