World's Tallest Teenager Reveals College Basketball Team Selection
The Florida Gators men's basketball team just scored an incoming freshman for its 2024-2025 season who is the current Guinness Book of Record holder for tallest teenager. At 7'6" Olivier Rioux, hailing from Quebec, Canada, is even taller than San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama.
The 300-pound, three-star recruit, who currently attends the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida—which trains some of the best basketball and football players in the country—announced his commitment to the University of Florida in an Instagram post this week.
"I am proud to announce that I have committed to the Florida Gators for the 2024 season," the 17-year-old wrote. "I want to thank all my coaches from [IMG Academy Basketball] and [Brookwood Elite] in helping me in this process. The adventure continue in Florida!"
According to 247 Sports, Rioux chose the Florida Gators after fielding offers from Stetson and Florida Atlantic.
Rioux should be in good company at Florida, which, as OnlyGators points out, will easily have one of the tallest rosters in college basketball next season. In addition to the Canadian teen, the team's roster for the upcoming season also boasts 6'11" freshman Alex Condon, 6'10" sophomore Aleks Szymczyk, 6'10" sophomore senior Tyrese Samuel, and center Micah Handlogten, a 7'1", 235-pound sophomore who is believed to be the tallest player in team history.
As Rioux told Guinness, he's been playing basketball since he was just five years old, and even at that age the opposing team would often question his age as he towered over the other children. He also expressed hopes for a pro basketball career, telling the organization that he plans to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.
It sounds as though he's well on his way. Watch out, Wemby.