Basketball fans are wondering how tall Olivier Rioux, the 7-foot-9 Florida Gator, will get. The Canadian teenager enrolled as a freshman at the University of Florida surprised the NCAA after reports, per ESPN, that he would redshirt for this upcoming season and return next year. Rioux already holds the Guinness World Record for being the tallest male teenager, with many comparing him to Yao Ming, Shaquille O’Neal, and Victor Wembanyama in the NBA. Here’s what the projected height for Olivier Rioux could be.
What is the projected height for Florida Gators’ Olivier Rioux?
Basketball prospect Olivier Rioux is still expected to go beyond his 7’9″ height, with doctors reportedly telling his family that his height will continue to grow.
This is according to Newsweek, which shares that Rioux was already 6’1″ at eight years old and already seven feet tall by the sixth grade. Most men stop growing at the age of 18, but Rioux has three more months until he turns 19 in February 2025 and the majority of males still “grow just a little after the ages of 18,” according to Healthline.
Rioux’s abilities on the court, bolstered by his astounding height compared to his competitors, caught him the attention of the basketball prep school IMG Academy in Florida in 2021. His height is already at a point that he barely needs to jump in order to dunk, as a regulation basketball hoop is placed 10 feet above the ground.
As explained in Rioux’s entry in the Guinness World Records, doctors could not figure out why he was so tall apart from genetics. His father is 6’8″, his mother is 6’2″, and his older brother is 6’9″, so his family fits the bill for being tall in general.
Rioux says that finding clothes that fit is a challenge for him. The same goes for his footwear as he wears a shoe size of 20. Fittingly, one of Rioux’s favorite superheros is Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy due to his “resemblance with [him]” and that he’s “tall and still growing and also he’s friendly.”
Florida coach Todd Golden says that Rioux might choose not to redshirt, but that isn’t likely. He will be using his time away during the 2024-25 season to hone his skills while practicing with his teammates.