WNBA legend Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle, welcome their first child together

The upcoming Olympic games will be the first time Griner has played overseas since she spent almost a year detained in Russia. Russian authorities arrested her for having a trace amount of cannabis oil on her when she traveled to Moscow to play with a local team during the WNBA’s off-season.

Griner was tried on drug charges, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison. She was freed from a labor camp on December 8, 2022, after intense negotiations by the Biden administration.

Griner released a memoir about her life and detention, Coming Home, on May 7. She has since said she won’t play overseas again unless it’s in the Olympics.

Griner was honored by her alma mater, Baylor University, this year; it retired her NCAA jersey number, 42, in February. Though the Baptist university didn’t always support her — in her 2014 book, In My Skin, Griner criticized the school’s willingness to “benefit from the success of their gay athletes. That is, as long as those gay athletes don’t talk about being gay.” She would not come out publicly until after leaving the school.

Griner met Cherelle at Baylor “in the sub area” of a school cafeteria. Griner shared the story in one Instagram post where she said that Cherelle “tapped me on my shoulder and told me I took [her] milkshake (still up for debate lol) and I was immediately blown away at [her] beauty!”

“You had no idea but I knew you were the one for me baby,” Griner wrote. “You stuck by my side at the lowest and at the highest!”