Like Victor Wembanyama, there is no shortage of very large basketball attractions at the moment. Olivier Rioux, who caught the attention of the new york press, made headlines after a Bulls radio commentator posted a photo of him standing by his side. With a size difference in centimeters: the commentator measures a good 1.75 meters where the young basketball player is announced at 2.28 meters (7.6 feet).
No words. You’ll be hearing a lot about this young man. Canadian Olivier Rioux is 7-6, 16 years young and is headed to IMG Academy in Florida. Wishing him the best. pic.twitter.com/uWr6guvLfT
—chuck swirsky (@ctsbulls) October 24, 2022
His size has earned him recognition as the tallest teenager in the world by the Guinness last year. “ The whole Rioux family being grown up, Olivier’s childhood home has been modernized to adapt to everyone’s build. Table tops and ceilings are all higher than average. The only thing that hasn’t changed are the door frames, which have had their fair share of collisions with the top of Olivier’s head “, had described the reference book in terms of records.
The institution specified that, younger, the giant spent hours leafing through these books of records, studying the tallest people and comparing himself to each record holder. Since he couldn’t find anyone taller than him in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the book, he figured he might be aiming for that honorary record himself.
We are in uncharted territory with Olivier
The 16-year-old Canadian native is currently entering his second year at IMG Academy. This summer, he had already made a name for himself by participating in the Canada Summer Games with the Quebec team, where he was born. Last year, he shot 8.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in the Americas Championship.
” When you watch Olivier, every three, six months, he does things faster, faster, stronger, being more balanced, he has more agility, his game improves, his understanding of how to have an impact on the game improves. This is important, because usually taller players are a bit slower (to develop)and he moves at the right pace for a super tall player », judged optimistically Michael Meekscoach for Canada Basketball.
According to the latter, the external expectations concerning him ” are quite high due to its size. But the technician preferred to focus his attention on “ the little things, like his mobility and agility, how he moves, how he conceptualizes the game, how he enjoys competing and playing. It is important because we are in unknown territory with Olivier, there has never been anyone so tall at this age. We are therefore cautiously optimistic and believe that it is moving in the right direction. »
