Who is the world’s tallest teenager?
At Center, from Canada, reigning in at seven foot five inches, it’s IMG Academy’s Olivier Rioux.
Rioux has been dubbed the world’s tallest teenager coming in at 7’5” at only the age of 15, according to Guinness World Records.
The 15-year-old is a basketball stat, who rocks a size 20 shoe. You can see from his parents where he gets his lanky length.
“My mom is 6’2” and my dad is 6’8”,” Rioux told ABC Action News.
While many can’t wait for their growth spurts to start, Rioux kept wondering when his was going to end.
“When I was 10, 11, 12, I started growing, and it was getting fast,” Rioux said. “Every week, I was like getting height, getting bigger. I was like, surprisingly, not really surprisingly, because my parents are tall, too. I was taller than every kid in my school.”
The spotlight has always been on Rioux, who was circling social media with his highlights as soon as he hit 6’10”... when he was 12 years old.
IMG’s head coach Jeremy Schiller shared with ABC that Rioux is a dominant force on the court with killer passing and the ability to shoot. Off the court, Schiller said Rioux embraces who he is.
“Everywhere we go, you know, it’s not something he can hide from,” Schiller said to ABC. “You can’t put on a hat and not be 7’5” anymore.”
While it seems a bit of a stereotype to have the “tall guy” like basketball, Schiller confirmed that his passion for the sport goes beyond the pressure to play because of his size.
“The biggest thing when you meet him, you’re concerned: is he skilled, can he move, what’s his motor like? Does he like basketball? Those are the things you’re concerned about when you meet a 7’5” kid and start to work with him,” Schiller said. “The first thing is he loves basketball. That’s huge. Some kids are tall, and people make them do it.”
As for what Schiller thinks Rioux could do with his basketball abilities, he says nothing is stopping him from reaching new heights, no pun intended.
“The sky is the limit. When you have a kid his size, can move the way he does and loves basketball,” Schiller said to ABC. “I would hate to put a cap on where he can go with it. I believe the sky’s the limit.”
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