Quebec's Olivier Rioux, world's tallest teen, chasing basketball dream at Canada Games
CBC
Olivier Rioux landed with a size-large exclamation point on Michael Meeks' radar when the Canada Basketball coach opened a photo in his inbox seven years ago.
Rioux was attending a kids basketball camp in Montreal, and posed for a photo alongside then-Detroit Pistons and Canadian team centre Joel Anthony, who stands a formidable six foot nine.
"Ron Yeung [Canada Basketball's manager of domestic development] sent me this photo of Olivier and Joel, and Olivier is about the same height, give or take an inch. Ron says, 'This kid is nine years old,"' said Meeks.
In the years since, Rioux has sprouted to a full seven foot six. He can dunk on an NBA hoop while barely leaving his feet.
Guinness World Records recognized him as the world's tallest teenager when he was 15 and seven foot five. If he played in the NBA now, he'd be tied with Cleveland's Tacko Fall as the league's tallest player.
But Rioux is playing for Quebec at the Canada Summer Games this week in Ontario's Niagara Region with kids at least his own age, if nowhere near his size.
Meeks, who's at the Games to keep an eye on Canada's young players, said he's seen improvement in Rioux even over the past few weeks, but cautions that like any super tall player, he's a long-term work in progress.
"People see his size and their expectations are pretty high," said Meeks. "For me, it's the little things like his mobility and agility, how he's moving, how he conceptualizes the game — how much fun is he having competing and playing?
"This is important because we're in uncharted territories with Olivier, there's never been anybody that big at that age before. So, we're kind of cautiously optimistic that he's definitely moving in the right direction."
Rioux, who's from Anjou, a borough in east Montreal, will begin Grade 10 in the fall in Bradenton, Fla. He moved there to attend IMG Academy — a school that counts superstar tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams among its alumni — a year ago.
"It was nice," Rioux said of his first year away from home. "I was calling my parents almost every day, and the school year was good, my grades were up.
"Back in Montreal I used to go to school every day for at least eight hours. Now I go to school for three hours and practice in the afternoon, It's different," he added with a deep-voiced laugh.
He's having fun at the Games, he said, and has taken in some of the boxing competition.
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