Griner, who represents the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the US, is perhaps the greatest female basketball player in history. The 32-yearold vanished on February 17 while traveling through Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. Later, she was found guilty of bringing cannabis oil in her luggage and given a nine-year prison term.
The singer, who is 6ft 9in (2.05 meters) tall, recalls being teased as a young girl because of her height and tomboyish appearance. In her memoirs, she said that she had "wished away so much of what would eventually make me successful at basketball: my size, power, and persistence." She wanted to be "average," but the basketball coaches at Houston's Nimitz High School were quick to notice her special potential. Her ability to dunk a basketball while competing for the school's team, the Nimitz Cougars, garnered a lot of attention.