Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Shows Support for Brittney Griner at the White House
U.S. Women’s soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe was one of 17 Americans awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday (July 7), at the White House. But the Olympic gold medalist and equal pay activist used the platform to call attention to freeing fellow Olympic athlete and WNBA star, Brittney Griner, who remains detained in Russia.
Rapinoe posted an Instagram story that she’d chosen a cream suit jacket with the basketball player’s initials and a flower sewn into the lapel.
“The most important part of today,” Rapinoe captioned the photo, adding: “BG we love you.”
Griner has been detained in Russia since being arrested in February. She pleaded guilty earlier Thursday in a Russian court to drug charges, and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Phoenix Mercury center was playing in Russia for UMMC Yekaterinburg in the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League during the WNBA’s off-season when she was arrested Feb. 17 at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were allegedly found in her luggage.
The U.S. State Department and the White House have both blasted the arrest and said that Griner is wrongfully detained.
