Olivier Rioux, a high school student who recently committed to play for the University of Florida in the fall. Rioux is incredibly tall; his current height is 7 feet, 9 inches. The 300-pound beanpole appears to be an adult who poses as a teenage player to get the thrill of bullying children, whether he is playing with his high school-age teammates or they are all around him in the huddle.
Rioux's tales are the only thing about him that isn't tall. Rioux has long had an accelerated growth rate; at the age of eight, he was 6 feet 1 inch up from 5 feet 2 inches in kindergarten. He would have dwarfed LeBron James, who was 6 feet 9 inches tall by the time he was 12 years old and 7 feet tall. At the same time, videos of him crushing his terribly underprepared opponent started to circulate on social media, creating an optical illusion on par with the dress meme.
Rioux, who was 14 at the time, was crowned the world's tallest teen at 7 feet 5 inches by Guinness World Records four years ago. Rioux would have moved up one spot to become the NBA rookie of the year, Victor Wembanyama, who is 7 feet 4 inches. He even towers over former NBA titans like Gheorghe Mureşan (7), Yao Ming (7), and Sim Bhullar (7). Rioux size is apparent, and as assistant coach Michael Meeks of the Canada national team put it, people have high expectations.
Rioux comes from a family of skyscrapers. With his height of 6 feet 8 inches, his father, a photographer, could possibly have a chance to be named the best in his field. At six feet, one inch, his mother used to play volleyball. Standing at six feet nine inches, his older brother was formerly a hooper. Rioux has endured various humiliations, such as people pointing and shouting for him to pay attention wherever he goes. Rioux said, "Of course, I'm tall, and all that... It's not a good excuse to yell, though. While it is amusing in a way, it irritates me when they do it".
Rioux, who was raised speaking only French, is from the suburbs of Montreal. If he had taken up hockey like most children his age, he might have gotten away with it. He outgrew the sport, though, before anyone could consider the harm it could do to a child who was already three inches taller than the tallest player in the NHL at age ten.