Source: Russian State Media / Russia State Media
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold-medalist Brittney Griner returned home to the United States last week after a high stakes trade with Russia. The world champion basketball player had been incarcerated in Russia for 10 months.
Photos of Griner as she arrived showed her missing her long signature locs and according to her attorney, she cut her hair off to deal with the frigid Russian winters because her locs would freeze every time she washed her hair.
Griner’s attorney, Maria Blagovolina told ESPN that Griner made the decision in preparation for life in a prison camp. “It’s very cold in there and every time she washed her hair she got cold and would get a chill,” she said. “She should have waited until New Year’s Day.”
Blagovovina told ESPN that Griner had a job in the camp. While most of the women at the IK-2 camp work during the day sewing uniforms,6-foot-9 Griner was too tall to sit at the worktables, and her hands were too large to manage the sewing. Instead, she carried fabric all day and said she liked the job, compared to what she might have been doing.
Of her time in the camp, Blagovovina said, “She had honestly no complaints,” Blagovolina said. “Things could have been much worse.”
According to the report, Griner was received at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for observation. She might need medical and nutritional treatment, and there will be great attention paid to her mental health. Griner will reportedly receive advice from the government and from advocacy groups about the healthiest way to resume her life.
It is unclear if and when she will return to the WNBA.
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