After 294 days in Russian captivity, Brittney Griner is coming home and the sports world erupted on Twitter. Griner was released Thursday after the U.S. reached a prisoner swap deal that will send international arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia in return. According to CBS News, President Joe Biden gave final approval on the deal in the last week.
Biden confirmed the deal in a Tweet and also said, as of Thursday morning, the WNBA star is on a plane back to the U.S. and is safe.
This brings the nearly year-long saga to a dramatic end after Griner, who has played internationally in Russia since 2014, was detained at a Russian airport in February after officials claimed that she had hashish oil in her luggage. In July, she pleaded guilty, but stated that she did not intend to break the law. On August 4, she was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony after a monthlong trial.
Griner is one of the best players in WNBA history and since February, those in the sports world have advocated for her release and spoken publicly about how much she is missed. Once the news broke she was coming home, social media celebrated.
Here are some of the best tweets from the WNBA world after Griner’s long-awaited release:
