American basketball star Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury said that she clung to her mental toughness to return to the courts, in her first press conference since her release from a Russian prison in which she was held for about 10 months.
Russian authorities released Grainer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, in a high-profile prisoner swap last year after her arrest in February 2022.
“I’m no stranger to tough times,” Greiner said at an emotional news conference. If you honestly muster all your strength, you will face difficulties throughout your life. This was a very big ordeal.”
Russian authorities arrested Grainer, who participated in the NBA All-Star Team eight times, in February 2022 at an airport outside Moscow for carrying packages containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Greiner was then convicted of drug trafficking and later transferred to one of the most notorious penal institutions in Russia, where former prisoners described the extent of torture, severe beatings and forced labor conditions there.
She said a doctor prescribed cannabis oil in the United States for a chronic infection and that she had never intended to break the law.