WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – A U.S. professional women’s basketball coach who once represented Russia at the Olympics has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “do the right thing” and quickly release U.S. star player Brittney Griner. .
Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who as a player spent years in Russia and won Olympic bronze for her adopted country, said it was distressing to see a member of the basketball community female so united closed for almost six months. Washington says Griner is wrongfully detained in Russia.
“It’s something that obviously hits very close to home for me, so I’m just asking the Russian government to do the right thing. It’s never too late to do the right thing,” Hammon told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “We’re asking for mercy. We’re asking for grace. And we’re asking to bring BG home.”
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Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury team, is expected back in a Russian court on Thursday for closing arguments in her trial. She faces up to 10 years in prison on drug charges after she was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 with vaporizer cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. Read more
His arrest on his way to join his Russian team in the American offseason came days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations between Moscow and Washington to an all-time low. in decades and putting Griner at the center of a geopolitics. fight
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that the US had made a “substantial offer” to Russia to free Griner and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, who the US also considers to be wrongfully detained in Russia One source said Washington was ready to trade convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Death Merchant”. Read more
Moscow has said no deal has yet been made. An exchange is unlikely to happen before a verdict in Griner’s trial, but it could happen in the coming days. Read more
‘ONE OF THE GREATEST’
Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, played during the offseason for several Russian teams, a common move for WNBA players looking to supplement lower incomes than their male counterparts. She became a naturalized citizen and won an Olympic bronze medal for Russia in 2008 and competed again in 2012, but said her Russian citizenship had since expired.
Hammon, reportedly the first WNBA coach to be paid more than $1 million, described Griner as “one of the greatest players to ever play” and said it was possible that an athlete’s arrest male at the same level would have elicited a greater response. .
“It’s hard to imagine, though, that if that was, you know, LeBron James, he’d still be sitting there in jail,” Hammon said. “It’s hard not to let your mind go there.”
Hammon said he had always supported the campaign to free Griner, but spoke out as Griner’s trial ends and Russia has a chance to send her home.
Hammon said as an athlete he was not political, but appealed to Putin and Russian authorities to show “mercy” and let Griner return to the United States with his wife.
“If that was your daughter or your sister or your wife or whoever, you can imagine the agony you’ve been waiting for,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
He also warned that Russian athletes would suffer the repercussions of the arrest of a top athlete traveling to compete.
“I think Mr. Putin is a big sports fan — to put all these athletes in danger, I mean, that would be very unfortunate,” Hammon said.
Russian sports teams and athletes have been banned from some international events over the invasion of Ukraine, and Olympic officials have said Russia could be banned from the 2024 Paris Games. Russia has not faced sports sanctions over the arrest of Griner. Read more
“If (Griner) were to serve a (prison) sentence, I think there would have to be bad implications internationally in the world of sports,” Hammon said. “There are certain ways to put pressure on Russia. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
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Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Mary Milliken and Nick Zieminski
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.