Olivier Rioux: Top facts you did not know about 7’9″ Canadian NBA prospect

Olivier Rioux: Tall origins

Born on 2 February 2006, in Quebec, Canada, there were early signs that Rioux would grow up to be something special.

Weighing 7.5 pounds (3.4kg) at birth, according to Guinness World Records, Rioux grew to 16 pounds (7.3kg) in his first month alone.

And he didn’t stop there.

By the fifth grade, the young Canadian was already 5ft 2in and at 15 years old, he stood at 7ft 5in officially becoming the world’s tallest teenager.

Was it always to be that Rioux would hold such a prize?

“We’re still not 100 per cent sure why I’m so tall,” he told Guinness in 2022. “After investigation, doctors could only explain it with the genetics that my family has.”

Rioux’s father stands at 6ft 8in, his mum at 6ft 2in, while his older brother is 6ft 9in.

“We’re a pretty tall family,” he added.

The basketball player has also said that having tall family members helps him navigate the attention that comes his way.

“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 told the AP.