Brittney Griner, with tears in her eyes and her hand over her heart, stands as the U.S. National Anthem plays following her gold medal victory at the Paris Olympics.

This powerful moment comes years after she famously chose not to stand for the anthem during the BLM movement. In between that time period Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for nearly 10 months for drug smuggling charges.

She was arrested on February 17, 2022, and released on December 8, 2022, as part of a prisoner exchange between her and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had served 10 years of a 25-year federal prison sentence in the United States, on charges of conspiracy to kill American citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization.

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