Here are the key dates in Brittney Griner’s life and career, as well as the events that led to the basketball player’s arrest and release in Russia.
October 18, 1990: Brittney Griner is born in Houston
2009: Leads Led Nimitz High School to the Texas State Final in Category 5A, which the team loses. The 6-foot-7 (2-meter) player dunks 52 as a senior, including seven in a game against Aldine.
2009-10: Sets the single-season record with 223 caps as a rookie at Baylor. She becomes the seventh woman to dunk in college basketball.
2011-12: Leads Baylor to a 40-0 record and is named The Associated Press Player of the Year after averaging 23.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and five blocks.
April 3, 2012: Add 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in the NCAA final, where Baylor beat Notre Dame 80-61. She wins the award for Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four round.
April 15, 2013: She is the first overall pick in the WNBA draft. She is recruited by the Phoenix Mercury.
2014: Guides Phoenix to a 29-5 season, the most wins in WNBA history. The team wins the league championship for the third time in its history.
August 14, 2014: Gets engaged to Glory Johnson, another WNBA player. Eight months later, both are arrested on charges of assault and disturbance of the public peace after the police intervene in a fight between the two.
May 15, 2015 – Griner and Johnson are suspended seven games by the WNBA after pleading guilty to charges of disturbing the peace.
2015 and 2016: Play in Russia for UMMC Yekaterinburg and win back-to-back titles with that club. He has played over the winter on that team ever since.
August 20, 2016: Help the United States win its sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal, at the Games in Rio de Janeiro.
June 18, 2019: Marries Cherelle Griner.
August 8, 2021: Help the United States win their seventh straight gold at the Tokyo Olympics. He averages 16.5 points to lead the team.
February 17, 2022: She is arrested for drug possession at an airport on the outskirts of Moscow, while returning to Russia to rejoin her team after a break to play in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. Customs agents indicate that they had found containers of electronic cigarette liquid in her luggage.
July 1, 2022: His trial begins in a court outside Moscow.
July 7, 2022: Pleads guilty to drug possession. “I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t want to break the law,” he says.
August 4, 2022: Sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession.
October 25, 2022: A Russian court rejects the appeal against the prison sentence.
October 17, 2022: Griner is transferred to a penal colony in the western Russian region of Mordovia.
December 8, 2022: Russia frees Griner in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout.