POr if the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was not enough and if the tension between the United States and the country of the Kremlin was not at the hottest point in recent years, now it is the turn of a WNBA basketball player who has been detained at Sheremetyevo airport. Something not positive for their interests due to the current climate of tension that exists between the two states.
Brittney Griner, WNBA basketball player, Olympic gold medalist at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and current UMMC Ekaterinburg player with whom she has won three national titles and EuroLeague Women championships in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021, has been arrested at the Moscow airport charged with illicit possession of drugs.
cannabis oil
Despite the fact that the incident occurred during the month of February, the authorities did not release the name of the player until a few hours ago, something that has already been published by the local media. DNewspaper reports state that the player had electronic cigarette cartridges with cannabis oil in her suitcasessomething prohibited in the Russian country.
The athlete now has a complicated situation since the penalty for cases like this ranges from five to ten years in prison. The player’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, wanted to give her opinion to the press of that country: “We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and maintain close communication with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, the WNBA and the NBA. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to comment further on the details, but we can confirm that as we work to get her back home, our primary concern will continue to be her mental and physical health.’ ‘, Kagawa Tails maintained.
The American, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury and with whom she earns more than a million dollars a year, she is arrested but the date of said arrest is not clear since she last played with her Russian team UMMC in Yekaterinburg on January 29, before the league decreed a pause two weeks at the beginning of February for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments. In addition, the player has been inactive on social media since February 5.In this video you can see the moment of his arrest at the airport.
Other athletes arrested
The arrest case of the American is not and will not be the last case of a high-level athlete who found the bones in jail. Probably the most famous of all is OJ Simpson’s. The American football player was accused of the murder of his ex-wife and his best friend, in which he was found not guilty, although a civil court later sentenced him to pay 33 million dollars.
In the world of football there have been several who went through prison: Ronaldinho for traveling with false passports, Rene Higuita for collaborating in the kidnapping of a person or Freddy Rincn for money laundering. In the world of boxing there have also been several fighters who broke the law. Mike Tyson, the first time, for the rape of a woman in a hotel or Floyd Mayweather convicted of domestic violence.
The world of athletics is not exempt from arrests either. The most talked about in recent years was that of the South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who shot his girlfriend, although at trial it was declared involuntary manslaughter. The American Marion Jones also went to prison for lying in the investigations of the Balco case in the fight against doping.
One of the cases that caused the most surprise in American society was that of the New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez. Was charged with murder and sentenced to life in prisonbeing found dead in his cell, hanged, two days after the sentence became final. His brain was donated to science and it was discovered that Hernandez suffered from chronic traumatic schizophrenia, an ailment that causes damage to the brain and affects a person’s behavior, something that has been proven, is due to a multitude of blows to the head.
The NBA is not spared either
If we start looking, there are quite a few players in the American basketball league who have ever, for one reason or another, been imprisoned. One of them is Ty Lawson and not because of the seriousness of his actions, but because of the recurrence of these. At least six related to alcohol, driving and domestic violence, although the last one is well known since it occurred a few weeks ago at the airport Adolfo Surez de Barajas when he did not want to put on the mask to fly and ended the day in detention by the Civil Guard after a massive altercation with several restaurant customers.
The other case that became very mediatic was that of LiAngelo Ball, who was accused of stealing on a trip from UCLA University to China to play a game against George Tech. Lonzo Ball’s brother was also arrested along with two other companions, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, after steal items from louis vuitton storelocated near your concentration hotel.
