WNBA STAR BRITTNEY GRINER 'Love Got Me Through'

IN A NEW MEMOIR, THE PRO ATHLETE RECALLS THE 10 NIGHTMARISH MONTHS SHE SPENT IN A RUSSIAN PRISON AND THE ENDURING HOPE THAT KEPT HER ALIVE

- DAVID WALTERS

In the months since her release from IK-2, a remote female penal colony 300 miles from Moscow, Brittney Griner has had an easier time doing things that once seemed daunting. Recently she hiked a mountain in her adopted home state of Arizona, where she's played for 10 seasons for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. As part of the trek, she crossed a rope bridge as the breeze swayed its span precariously and rebar steps bounced beneath her 6'9" frame. To psych herself up, Griner stated the obvious: "I [survived] Russian prison. I can do this." As mantras go, it's an effective reminder that she's braver than she once realized. And it's these little moments of reveling-in warmth, in wide-open spaces, in freedom-that mean more than she ever expected.

In February 2022 those moments seemed gone forever, after she was arrested in Russia on charges of narcotics smuggling and ultimately sentenced to nine years in a labor camp, touching off an unimaginable 10-month ordeal she details in her new memoir, Coming Home. Like many female pros, Griner, 33, spent offseasons playing in the Russian Premier League, where she could earn more than four times her annual WNBA salary. While traveling to join her UMMC Ekaterinburg teammates, she was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport for possession of two vape pens containing a combined 0.7 grams of hash oil. A negligible amount. Leftovers. "Not enough weed to raise a brow in the States," writes Griner. But there, where her medical-marijuana prescription held no weight and her fame made her a valuable piece of political leverage as Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine, it was enough to spark an international incident.