UAE president, Saudi crown prince led mediation to free US basketball star

RIYADH - The UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured the release of US basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap with Russia, a UAE-Saudi joint statement said on Thursday.

The player has arrived in Abu Dhabi on board a private plane from Moscow after her release by Russian authorities, the statement added.

The 32-year-old's nine-month ordeal -- which unfolded against the backdrop of soaring tensions over the Ukraine war -- came to an end Thursday as the United States secured her release in a prisoner swap with a Russian arms dealer.

Griner was convicted by a Russian court on drugs charges in August and sentenced to nine years in prison, even as US officials declared she was being wrongfully detained and worked behind the scenes for her release.

One of the leading players of her generation, the African American Griner is among only 11 players to have won an Olympic gold medal, WNBA title, Women's Basketball World Cup crown and US college championship.

She helped drive the US women's national team to Olympic gold in 2016 at Rio and last year in Tokyo, giving the Americans seven consecutive Olympic crowns.

In February 2013, Griner came out publicly as a lesbian in an interview with Sports Illustrated, becoming a sporting trailblazer.

Her endorsement deal with Nike was its first with an openly gay athlete.

Griner had played in the WNBA off-season for UMMC Ekaterinburg, like many US pros seeking out the higher pay in Russia than they can earn in the US league.

She won three Russian league crowns and four EuroLeague titles with the powerhouse club.

But on February 17, 2022, one week before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, she was detained at the Moscow international airport as she was leaving and accused of drug smuggling, for carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage.

The WNBA star said she had permission from a US doctor to use medicinal cannabis to relieve pain from her many injuries.

Russian officials snubbed pleas to release her and she was put on trial and sentenced to imprisonment in August, before being transferred to a Russian penal colony in November.