Brittney Griner was visibly emotional during the national anthem at the Paris Olympics. Here's why

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As the Team USA women’s basketball team closed out the final event of the 2024 Paris Olympics with a nail-biting gold medal victory, cameras captured Brittney Griner shedding a few tears.

The players’ hard-fought 67-66 win over France Aug. 11 earned them an historic eighth consecutive gold medal at the Olympic Games, and Griner her third. It also extended the team’s unbelievable winning streak to 61-0, with their last loss coming in 1992.

Although the 33-year-old previously won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, her team’s triumph on the last day of the 2024 Paris Olympics made her emotional.

Tears streamed down Griner’s face as she stood beside her teammates with a gold medal around her neck, listening to the national anthem and watching the American flag rise in Bercy Arena.

Griner wiping away tears after the national anthem.

“This is your moment,” the USA Basketball X account captioned photos of the heartfelt moment. “Take a bow, BG.”

Fans also reacted online to Griner’s emotional moment with many saluting the Olympic athlete.

“Oh, man, I am crying right along with Brittney Griner. A true hero and champion. #Olympic2024,” one person wrote on X.

Another shared, “Two years ago Brittney Griner was prisoner in Russia. Today she has had won Gold for her country once again. We love you BG.”

A third wrote: “Two years ago, Brittney Griner was in a Russian prison. Today, she gets an Olympic gold medal with Team USA. That’s AWESOME.”

Griner, who previously stopped standing for the national anthem in 2020 during a turning point in the Black Lives Matter movement, has been standing for “The Star-Spangled Banner” since her release from a Russian prison last year, according to The Atlantic.

In December 2022, Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer after being imprisoned for nearly 10 months. The WNBA star returned to the basketball court for her first game in May 2023 and proudly stood for the anthem.

When asked about her decision to stand, she told The Atlantic, “One thing that’s good about this country is our right to protest. You have a right to be able to speak out, question, to challenge, and do all these things. (After) what I went through, it just means a little bit more to me now. I was literally in a cage and could not stand the way I wanted to … and a lot of other situations. Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely wanted to stand.”

Speaking about those who criticized her initial protest of the anthem, she added, “Sometimes when it doesn’t go the way other people want it to go, you get labeled un-American or something like that. I think it makes you more American.”

She said at the time that she still supports athletes continuing the protest.

Griner also spoke after that first game of the 2023 WNBA season about how being imprisoned changed her perspective, the Associated Press reported.

“I appreciate everything a little bit more, all of the small moments, like, ‘Oh, I’m so tired I don’t want to go to practice today,’ that has changed, honestly,” she shared. “Tomorrow is not guaranteed, you don’t know what it’s going to look like. I feel a lot older somehow, too.”

When she arrived in France for the Summer Games, she opened up about traveling internationally to play basketball again after a dramatic experience.

“Everybody’s thinking about how it is for me coming back overseas and all that after everything I went through,” she told reporters. “But it’s good. I feel good being here, being in France. I feel safe. I feel great.”

Griner scored four points and grabbed two rebounds in the gold medal matchup. After wiping away tears on the podium at the 2024 Paris Games, Griner celebrated the win with her teammates.

USA Basketball’s X account posted a picture of the undefeated team holding hands and raising their arms in victory.

The account also shared a snap of Griner cheering in a huddle with teammates A’Ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, Napheesa Collier and Diana Taurasi.

Taurasi, who made history as the first basketball player to earn six gold medals, shares the court with Griner back home, too. The duo play for the Phoenix Mercury and Taurasi repeatedly advocated for Griner’s return from Russia.

At the start of the Summer Games last month, Taurasi applauded Griner for everything she has persevered through over the last two years.

“What BG’s gone through in the last couple of years is obviously unprecedented,” she said. “For her to be able to come back, to get on that flight, to come overseas, it was a big moment for her in a lot of ways. But I’m glad she did it because she’s a remarkable person.”

Taurasi further praised Griner, continuing, “Not saying that, you know, the minute she got back from that she was the happiest person on earth. But she found a way to navigate all those emotions and all those situations to move forward.”

She also complimented Griner for having “the biggest heart.”

“And I think that’s why people went to bat for her so hard, because they know what kind of person she is,” Taurasi added.

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This article was originally published on TODAY.com

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