Sports
Brittney Griner recalls bloodstained mattress and other harsh living conditions during Russian detainment
Brittney Griner says she was subjected to inhumane conditions during her nearly 10-month-long detainment in Russia, which included her final stay at a Russian penal colony, where the WNBA star says she was forced to work on helping to produce military clothing.
In her first sit down interview after being released in December 2022 in a prisoner exchange, Griner detailed her living conditions in an interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom after a hearing in Khimki, just outside Moscow, on Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
“The mattress had a huge bloodstain, and they give you these thin two sheets, so you’re basically laying on bars,” Griner said of her initial detainment at Correctional Colony No. 1, or IK-1 as it is more commonly referred to.
“From the middle of my shin to my feet stuck through the bars, which in prison, you really don’t want to stick your leg and arm through bars because someone could go up and grab it, break it, twist it and that’s what was going through my mind.”
Griner was arrested at a Russian airport in February 2022 after it was discovered that she had been traveling with cartridges containing cannabis oil. She had been traveling to Russia to play basketball in the offseason and credited the mistake as simply a “mental lapse.”
Griner was swiftly taken into custody to await her fate.
Brittney Griner, #15 of the US National Team, warms up prior to their exhibition game against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 12, 2023 in Durham, North Carolina. (Lance King/Getty Images)
BRITTNEY GRINER BLAMES LEAVING CANNABIS OIL CARTRIDGES IN LUGGAGE BEFORE RUSSIA ARREST ON ‘MENTAL LAPSE’
During her detainment, Griner said her access to resources was limited. She was given a roll of toilet paper that was meant to last her a month. However, there were some times when even those needs were not being met.
“There was like two, three months where we didn’t get anything.”
She continued, “It was like 15 years ago that toothpaste was expired. We used to put it on the black mold to kill the mold on the walls.”
After her trial, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian labor camp, IK-2.
A Russian court found Brittney Griner guilty of smuggling and storing narcotics after prosecutors requested a sentence of nine and a half years in jail for the athlete. (EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
While there, Griner worked to cut fabric for military uniforms.
“It’s a work camp,” she recalled. “You go there to work. There’s no rest.”
“So I’m picking up these big beams of fleece and cotton and silk. We put it on this machine, and you roll it out a hundred times, clamp it, cut it.”
Griner was released in December 2022 as part of a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout. She returned to the Mercury last season. She was an All-Star for the eighth time in her career.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Sports
Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
Sports
Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more
A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.
Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.
The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.
And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”
He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.
The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.
Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”
“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.
“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …
Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.
(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)
“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”
Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.
“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”
Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.
“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”
Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.
“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”
The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.
While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.
“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.
“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”
Sports
Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.
It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.
We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)
After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.
9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)
How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.
8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)
This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.
-
Utah2 minutes agoCocker spaniel joins Utah County Sheriff’s Office as detection dog
-
Vermont8 minutes agoSmilin’ Steves closes three Vermont pharmacies, including at Woodstock clinic – Valley News
-
Virginia14 minutes agoWest Virginia man charged with 2nd-degree murder of woman connected to Bristol
-
Wisconsin26 minutes agoOvernight storms could bring downpours, wind & hail to Central WI
-
West Virginia32 minutes agoWest Virginia police announce an arrest in the Gretchen Fleming case, after remains found in September identified
-
Wyoming38 minutes agoSnowstorm Shuts Down Southern Wyoming, Motorists Stranded On I-80 For Hours
-
Crypto44 minutes agoTikTok user scams Sioux Falls woman out of $400K
-
Finance50 minutes agoLending Momentum Builds for 2026