Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is a sitting volleyball player who sports a huge advantage over his opponents.
At an imposing 8ft 1 (2.46 metres), Mehrzadselakjani aka Mehrzad is the second tallest living man in the world. And he’s the tallest athlete ever to compete in the Paralympics, according to the International Paralympic Committee website.
He represents Iran in the Paralympic version of the sport due to a bicycle incident during his teenage years, which injured his pelvis and stunted the growth in his right leg, which is around six inches shorter than his left leg.
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But the 36-year-old has been playing the sport for nearly a decade, after being scouted following an appearance on TV.
Speaking to AFP after a training session at Iran’s Sports Federation in Tehran, he said: “I have always been called the ‘tall boy’ even before joining the national team or the Paralympic Games.”
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(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He continued: “Playing sitting volleyball helped me a lot. The physique that I once considered as very bad has helped me in this game, and I could make good use of it.”
The athlete has a condition called ‘acromegaly’ – a rare condition due to excessive growth hormone, which causes growth beyond the human average. On this, he said: “I turned limitations into opportunities,” said Mehrzad.
“I cannot say those limitations totally went away, but they lessened over time since joining the team.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
However, sometimes his height can still cause an inconvenience, Iran’s head coach Hadi Rezaei told Olympics.com about his player’s sleeping arrangements at the Paris games, he said: “In Tokyo, yes, they have made a special bed, but unfortunately not here.”
Iran have hit fine form so far at the games boasting convincing victories over Brazil in three straight sets on Sunday after doing the same to Ukraine on Friday. Iran, now sit on top of the group with six points, gets one more group match against Germany will follow before the medal matches. The nation are aiming for their third straight gold in the sport.