03 November, 2024
Canadian Olivier Rioux is the world's tallest teenager.
At 2.4 meters tall, he has a place in the Guinness World Records as the world's tallest living teenager.
Soon, he will make basketball history when he plays for the University of Florida.
Known as “Oli,” he will become the tallest person to play college basketball. Rioux is about 5 centimeters taller than former professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) like Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol. And he is nearly 8 centimeters taller than former NBA player Yao Ming of China.
When he walks from his college housing to classes at the University of Florida, Rioux stops a lot -- sometimes hundreds of times a day -- to take pictures with people.
“You don't have a single three seconds to yourself when you're outside, which I was fine with because my brother and my dad are tall. And, as a family, we used to go out. That's just how it was, and you can't change that because people are curious,” Rioux said.
His college teammates have already gotten used to it.
“It's really weird looking up to someone,” said teammate Micah Handlogten who is 2.2 meters tall. “People normally ask me, ‘You're so tall. Do you play basketball?' No one says a word to me (now). Everyone just looks at him. It's kind of crazy. He doesn't shy away from it,” he added.
Rioux actually enjoys it. He welcomes the looks, the questions and all the picture requests.
“You just get used to it,” he said. “Talking to people is nice because they are curious, and you can't change that.”
Rioux has worked hard to prepare for college basketball at the top level. The team expects Rioux to be a fan favorite. Coach Todd Golden said, “About 95 percent of my conversations with random people about our team are about him. It's the first time we've been ranked since 2019 and it's like, ‘Hey, Coach, we're really excited to see Oli out there this year.' And I get it, man. He's a very unique individual.”
Rioux grew up in Terrebonne, Quebec. At an early age, he was already taller than most of his teachers. He was 1.8 meters tall by age 8 and reached more than 2 meters before middle school.
Rioux started playing basketball at age 5. But he is still learning the game at the college level. Rioux can dunk the ball in the basket without leaving his feet. He wears No. 32 because of his affection for former NBA greats Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal, another 2-meter-tall player.
Rioux would like to model his game after French superstar Victor Wembanyama.
Most people have the same reaction when seeing Rioux for the first time. Just about every picture taken of him goes viral.
“He doesn't seek the attention, but he also doesn't get annoyed at the people that ask,” teammate Handlogten said. “He embraces it because it's part of him, and he loves that...”
I'm Ashley Thompson.
Mark Long reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted it for VOA Learning English.
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Words in This Story
curious - adj. having desire to learn
shy away from - phrasal verb, to try to avoid (something) because of nervousness, fear, dislike, etc.
conversation - n. a talk involved two or more people
random - adj. done without a particular pattern
embrace - v. to accept something