At 16 years-old and 7ft 6 inches, Olivier Rioux is already larger than the NBA’s tallest active player: Tacko Fall (7’5).
Rioux is from east Montreal and a proud Québécois . He will begin the 10th at IMG Academy, a school that counts legendary tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams among its alumni.
Joey Mckitterick, who has coached Rioux ever since he was 12, explains that part of the challenge has been getting curious onlookers to leave Rioux alone when they are in public. The coach explains it is tough even to get to flights sometimes because of people asking to take pictures with Olivier, or even to hold their baby.
“With the whole Rioux family being tall, Olivier’s childhood home was updated to accommodate everyone’s stature. Tabletops, and ceilings are all higher than average. The only thing that remains the same is the doorframes, which have seen their fair share of collisions with the top of Olivier’s head,” Guinness wrote when presenting him with the record. “When you see Olivier, every 3-6 months he’s doing things quicker, faster, stronger, more balanced, he’s got more agility, his game is getting better, his understanding of how to impact the game is getting better,” Meeks said. “This is important, because usually taller players are a little bit slower [to develop], and he’s moving at the right rate in terms of a super tall player.”
“As a child, Olivier spent hours looking through his Guinness World Records books, studying the tallest people, and comparing himself to every record holder. After failing to find someone taller than him in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the books, Olivier was inspired to achieve the title himself and recalls being “emotionally shocked and relieved that [he] finally got it!”
Guinness World Records recognized him as the world’s tallest teenager when he was 15 and seven foot five. If he played in the NBA now, he’d be tied with Cleveland’s Tacko Fall as the league’s tallest player.
But Rioux is playing for Quebec at the Canada Summer Games this week in Ontario’s Niagara Region with kids at least his own age, if nowhere near his size.
Quebec was scheduled to face Saskatchewan on Friday after dropping a 72-70 decision to Alberta in Thursday night’s semifinal.
Meeks, who’s at the Games to keep an eye on Canada’s young players, said he’s seen improvement in Rioux even over the past few weeks, but cautions that like any super tall player, he’s a long-term work in progress.
“People see his size and their expectations are pretty high,” said Meeks. “For me, it’s the little things like his mobility and agility, how he’s moving, how he conceptualizes the game — how much fun is he having competing and playing?
“This is important because we’re in uncharted territories with Olivier, there’s never been anybody that big at that age before. So, we’re kind of cautiously optimistic that he’s definitely moving in the right direction.”
Rioux, who’s from Anjou, a borough in east Montreal, will begin Grade 10 in the fall in Bradenton, Fla. He moved there to attend IMG Academy — a school that counts superstar tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams among its alumni — a year ago.
“It was nice,” Rioux said of his first year away from home. “I was calling my parents almost every day, and the school year was good, my grades were up.
“Back in Montreal I used to go to school every day for at least eight hours. Now I go to school for three hours and practice in the afternoon, It’s different,” he added with a deep-voiced laugh.
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