Brittney Griner thrilled as Americans return in prisoner swap

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Brittney Griner knows only too well the swirling emotions of being involved in a prisoner swap, and she said Thursday night that she is “head over heels” that fellow Americans are coming home from Russia.

“Great day. It’s a great day. It’s a great day,” Griner said after the U.S. women beat Belgium 87-74 to clinch a berth in the Paris Games quarterfinals. “We’ll talk more about it later. But head over heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win. That’s a win.”

The two-time Olympic gold medalist went through her own high-profile prisoner exchange with Russia in 2022 after having been sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling that year.

So Griner was thrilled to hear that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, both convicted of espionage charges that the U.S. government considered baseless, were coming home.