News about Brittney Griner

The Fever shared footage of the Clark, 21, giggling in downtown Indianapolis while bonding with her basketball peers, as she continues to settle down in her new home since being drafted last month. 'Erica Wheeler and NaLyssa Smith let Caitlin Clark borrow their chains for our night time photo shoot,' the Fever shared on X, Wednesday.

The WNBA superstar had been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after being caught with a cannabis oil cartridge while returning to Russia to resume playing for her European team in 2022.

Brittney Griner has revealed she considered taking her own life multiple times when detained in a Russian prison following her 2022 arrest. The WNBA superstar had been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after being caught with a cannabis oil cartridge while returning to Russia to resume playing for her European team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, in February 2022.  She was freed in a 1-for-1 swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022 that has since been criticized for its failure to return Paul Whelan, a US Marine imprisoned on espionage charges in 2018. However, before she could be released, Griner considered taking her own life with the conditions in the Russian detention center leaving her feeling 'less than human', she revealed to ABC's to Robin Roberts.

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner says she was hoping that she wasn't the only American being freed from a Russian prison in 2022. Griner was arrested in February of 2022 and released that December in a prisoner swap with the Russians. In a preview of an interview Griner held with Robin Roberts on ABC's 20/20, the WNBA star says she hoped that Paul Whelan was on the plane with her.

Brittney Griner thought she'd be returning to the United States with fellow Russian captive and US marine Paul Whelan when she was traded in a 'controversial' prisoner swap for an arms dealer.

Brittney Griner thought she'd be returning to the United States with fellow Russian captive and US marine Paul Whelan when she was traded in a 'controversial' prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, ABC's Robin Roberts revealed Tuesday. In giving a first look at the upcoming GMA interview, Roberts told her co-anchors that the WNBA star does address the trade that freed her after 10 months of captivity in Russia following her drug arrest in Moscow in February of 2022. 'She said she got on the plane thinking that Paul Whelan was going to be on that plane, too,' Roberts told her co-hosts, while discussing Griner's organization aimed at helping other imprisoned Americans overseas. 'It's called 'Bringing Our Families Home,' to help with the effort to free other detainees.'

Brittney Griner and her partner Cherelle have revealed they are expecting a baby - a little over a year after the basketball star was released from a Russian penal colony. The WNBA player returned to the United States in December 2022, after spending 10 months between prison and a penal colony in Vladimir Putin's Russia. Griner recently re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury - her only WNBA team - ahead of this year's Olympics in Paris. 

The 32-year-old American citizen was arrested in late March 2023 while on a journalist trip and has spent almost a year in jail. His detention was postponed until June 30.

Audi Crooks, a freshman at Iowa State, shared a little bit about her late father after guiding the Cyclones' comeback victory in the first round of March Madness. With a 93-86 victory over the Maryland Terrapins on Friday night, Iowa State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After scoring a career-high 40 points - the most by a freshman in women's March Madness history - Crooks deservedly slapped the Cyclones' nameplate on the NCAA tournament bracket board. Crooks mourned her late father's 'the best seat in the house' following Iowa State's comeback victory.

In another sign of the increasing success of women's basketball, the Las Vegas Aces, a two-time defending champion, has become the first team in WNBA history to sell out allotted season tickets. Last season, Las Vegas, which sold out its nearly 8,600 season tickets, led the league in attendance with 9,551 fans per game and had nine sellouts. The majority of games were played at Michelob Ultra Arena. The Aces appeared twice at the much larger T-Mobile Arena, where they drew more than 12,000 fans for both games. In late April, single-game tickets for most games will be available. Also single tickets for the Aces' game against the Chicago Sky will be available later this month.

According to her boyfriend, US citizen Ksenia Karelina was first arrested in Russia, the country of her birth, in January, and then her cellphone was confiscated by authorities. After Putin's clandestine police, the FSB, found that in February 2022, Karelina, 32, appeared in a Russian court to answer to dubious treason charges, the ballerina donated $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity. Two years later, Karelina, who holds both a Russian and US passport, was arrested by police on petty hooliganism charges outside a movie theater in Yekaterinburg, the same city where Evan Gershkovich was arrested 12 months ago.

Caitlin Clark was given applause from over a dozen celebrities in a video message after breaking the NCAA's all-time women's basketball scoring record on Thursday night. The A-listers featured seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, college basketball legend Brittney Griner, as well as Iowa fans and married actress Mila Kunis. Clark has more than met hopes as a blue-chip candidate, and he is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in this summer's WNBA Draft.

Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes guard, claimed second place on the NCAA women's all-time scoring list after her team's 110-74 victory over Northwestern on Wednesday. Clark dominated former Ohio State Buckeye Kelsey Mitchell's record of 3,402 after hitting a layup with 4:58 remaining in the second quarter of play. The reigning Naismith women's college player of the year appeared in fourth place on the all-time points list on Wednesday, four points behind Missouri State's Jackie Stiles and 13 behind Mitchell. She now stands at 3,424 points in her career.

Brittney Griner, who played for program and later died with a jersey retirement party at the Bears' new campus arena in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 18. Griner's No. 5 is a girl who likes granular things. When Baylor hosts Texas Tech at the newly opened Foster Pavilion that day, 42 people will be fired. In a news release, Griner said, 'I'm honored to return home to Baylor and commemorate where so much of my journey began.'

Evan Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, about 1,200 miles east of Moscow. The Russian Security Service's deception alleged that the reporter,'on the American side's orders, obtained information establishing a state secret about one of the Russian military-industrial complex's operations.'

Jesus Ferreira, the United States' striker, has declined to Spartak Moscow because of the risks for American companies that are entangled with Russia. Ferreira was ready to move and his team, FC Dallas, had accepted Spartak's bid before MLS intervened. According to DailyMail.Com, thorough legal assistance was obtained before the intervention. Ferreira, 23, is one of MLS' top strikers, having played 23 times for his country and scored 15 goals. He has lived his entire career in the United States and has been affiliated with European teams as well as a lucrative move abroad.

Paul Whelan was arrested in 2018 and now serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges at the remote IK-17 camp in Mordovia, southeast of Moscow. David Whelan, his brother, hasn't heard from him since New Year's Eve, and prison bosses have told him that the phone lines are frozen.

Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian owner of a ship-servicing company in Southeast Asia who is the central figure in one of the country's largest bribery scandals, will be extradited to Venezuela under a deal that will release ten Americans.

Alex Saab, a top money-launderer who was accused of aiding Maduro, was arrested in 2020 and awaiting trial. On Wednesday, he was released from prison. Maduro is reported to have released up to 36 prisoners, including at least 12 Americans who are currently detained in Venezuela. Officials have not revealed the names of the Americans who will be freed from Venezuelan jail, but there were rumors on Tuesday that they included former US special forces troops Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were arrested by Maduro forces after a failed coup attempt in 2019. Eyvin Hernandez, Jermelle Kenemore, and Joseph Cristella, all citizens of Venezuela, were arrested. Venezuela detained Savoi Wright, a 38-year-old California businessman, more recently.

On the one-year anniversary of her release from a Russian prison, Brittney Griner has called for more attention to other Americans being 'wrongly arrested' around the world. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball, was discovered with less than a gram of hash oil while traveling in Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason, something she had never done before. Despite being ordered to nine years in jail on drug smuggling charges, the Phoenix Mercury star also lost an appeal for a lower sentence.

Today is the one-year anniversary of Brittney Griner's freedom from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner swap for renowned arms dealer Viktor Bout. Putin has been a vocal Putin supporter on Friday. Bout has made a smooth transition from fighting arms in war-ravaged Middle East and Africa to a pseudo-political career, which in some ways speaks more about Putin's Russia than it does about the newly released 56-year-old. Putin has a vocal supporter of his largely unpopular invasion of Ukraine, and the fact that this assurance is coming from a war criminal is largely irrelevant. And it's the war that hung like a blood moon over Griner's trial, conviction, and nine-year sentence for a felony that Russian traditionally punishes with only a few weeks in prison. Yes, it was Griner's medically approved hash oil that was discovered in Moscow airport security in February of 2022. However, it was Putin who turned her into a geopolitical pawn before he was able to finalize the prisoner swap with the Biden Administration a year ago.

Brittney Griner's release from a Russian penal colony as part of a prisoner swap for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout - a vocal Putin supporter. Bout has made a smooth transition from combating arms in the war-torn Middle East and Africa to a pseudo-political career, which is probably more about Putin's Russia than the newly released 56-year-old. Putin has a vocal backer of his largely unpopular invasion of Ukraine in Bout, and the fact that this reassurance comes from a war criminal is largely irrelevant. And it's that war that hung like a blood moon over Griner's trial, plea, and nine-year sentence for a felony that Russia traditionally punishes with just a few weeks in prison. Yes, it was Griner's medically prescribed hash oil that was discovered at Moscow airport security in February of 2022. However, it wasn't until Putin turned her into a geopolitical pawn before he was able to negotiate the prisoner swap with the Biden Administration one year ago.

Brittney Griner will talk about her harrowing experience of being detained in Russia for ten months last year in a new documentary about her life. When entering the country to compete for UMMC Ekaterinburg, Griner was discovered with less than a gram of hash oil, something she hadn't done every year since 2014. Despite being arrested by the US government improperly detained, she was sentenced to nine years in jail on drug smuggling allegations, and she lost an appeal for a lower sentence.

The State Department did not disclose the specifics of the plan made to Moscow in order to guarantee the release of the American prisoners.