Young basketball player Olivier Rioux is so tall that he is setting records simply by continuing his education.
The 18-year-old Montreal native recently graduated from high school and has committed to Florida. The school lists his height as a staggering 7-foot-1, which would make him the tallest college basketball player in history.
Rioux with a size of 7-9 is the result of a small growth spurt. When Ballislife.com filmed him in November 2023, he stood at 7ft 10in.
A gain of two inches in seven months is huge, especially for someone who two years ago was in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the tallest teenager in the world. He was 16 at the time and already 1.80 meters tall. He told the Guinness Book of World Records website that his height is likely a result of having two very tall (but not record-breaking) parents.
We still aren’t 100% I’m sure I know why I’m so tall. After examination, doctors could only explain it with the genetics that my family has. My father is 6 feet tall, my mother is 6 feet 4 inches, and my older brother is 6 feet 4 inches. So we are one quite a long family! 👨👩👦👦📏
Unsurprisingly, Rioux has been quite tall since he could stand upright. According to his Florida profile, he was 6 feet tall at the age of eight, and 6 feet tall by the time he was in sixth grade, about four years later. By the beginning of seventh grade he had shot past the two-meter mark.
If you’re having a hard time imagining what someone that height looks like next to someone of average height, here you go.
We took this photo together two years ago, when Olivier Rioux was 1.80 meters tall. He is now 7-9. The incoming freshman from Florida will be the tallest player in college basketball history. pic.twitter.com/gZSWrMa9Yb
— chuck swirlsky (@ctsbulls) June 20, 2024
And this is what Rioux looked like when he played basketball as a 6-11-12 year old.
According to GatorsWire, Rioux is considered a “developmental project,” so not much is expected of him as a freshman. On the other hand, no one expected a 7-5 year old 16 year old to grow four inches in two years, so anything is possible.
