Olivier Rioux will not be getting any taking part in time through the Gators run within the NCAA Event, however by his sheer measurement, he’s a presence that’s onerous to overlook.
At 7-foot-9, Rioux is by far the tallest participant within the Event this 12 months, and it obtained some additional discover on Sunday when CBS Sports activities reporter Tracy Wolfson shared a photograph of her standing side-by-side with the Gators’ heart.
The submit has since gone viral, because it confirmed the a lot shorter Wolfson standing subsequent to the big Rioux, together with one other picture of Wolfson subsequent to Tacko Fall, who’s three inches shorter than the Florida Gator.
“No way either of them can get on a plane,” one particular person joked on X in reply to Wolfson’s submit.
“You’re going to need a boom pole for your microphone!” one other particular person wrote.
Fall and Olivier Rioux. Screengrab by way of X/@tracywolfson
Rioux has gotten loads of consideration this 12 months, as he has redshirted his freshman season in Gainesville and is formally the world’s tallest teenager.
Rioux reached the peak of 6-foot-1 by the point he was 8 years previous and 6-foot-11 when he was in sixth grade, based on For The Win.
And after the Gators received the SEC event earlier this month, he went viral as he was seen reducing down the web with out even having to stand up on a ladder to take action.
He simply chopped a bit of the web off as Florida cheerleaders and followers reacted within the background.
Rioux will probably be extra of an element on the court docket subsequent season after redshirting this 12 months — a alternative he remodeled getting rubbish time minutes as a non-scholarship athlete.
“It’s been a process,” Rioux advised the Related Press. “I feel good about it. I feel like I’ve been doing a tremendous job in terms of lifting. Obviously, practicing is a bit different. You’re not playing as much as you want to, but you still got to show up and practice as much as they want me to.”
