The greatest teenager in the world
FILE – An NBA logo is seen at center court before an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The NBA has agreed to the terms of its new media deal, an 11-year contract worth $76 billion that ensures player salaries will continue to rise for the foreseeable future and that will surely change the way some viewers perceive the game in the years to come. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images via AP, Pool, File)
Photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images via AP, Pool, File)
Editor’s note: This is an editorial. Like a news article, an editorial is based on facts but also contains opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and bear no association with our editorial staff.
SALT LAKE CITY — You’ve probably never heard of him, but I suspect you will be hearing from him this winter. The boy’s name is Olivier Rioux.
Olivier Rioux is a French-Canadian from Montreal who just turned 18, is about to start college, and is the tallest teenager in the world.
When asked if he considered this a blessing or a curse, he said it was a blessing.
“You can use it to be famous, you can use it for basketball, you can use it for the top shelf in the kitchen.”
Olivier Rioux has the right attitude, especially considering he’s almost 8 feet tall… and still growing.
The doctors tell his family that they can’t find anything wrong and that his size is simply due to the size of his parents.
The two questions he gets asked most often are: How tall are you? 7’1″. Right now. The other question: Do you play basketball? Definitely.
He doesn’t even have to jump to dunk. The kid does it on his tiptoes. And he’s now drafted into college, where he’ll play for the Florida Gators this season. He still looks a little awkward, but what a playbook they’ll have at the University of Florida. Throw the ball to the giant, and he’ll put the ball in the basket.
That’s what you can do with a gentle giant.
So big that he could call the 7-foot-tall Rudy Gobert a “punk.”
Jeff Caplan is host of Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL NewsRadio. Follow him on on facebook. And X.
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