8-Foot Paralympian Can’t Fit in Olympic Village Beds, Sleeps on Floor

Iranian sitting volleyball participant Morteza Mehrzadselakjan received’t let slightly discomfort come between himself and a possible gold medal on the 2024 Paralympics.

The athlete, 36, who at 8 toes 1 inch is the second-tallest man on the earth and the tallest Paralympic athlete in historical past, doesn’t match into the beds at Paris’ Olympic Village. However he’s making do with a easy answer.

The workforce’s head coach, Hadi Rezaeigarkani, informed Olympics.com on Friday, August 30, “He’s going to lie on the ground.”

Based on the coach, previous Video games have made particular lodging for Mehrzadselakjan, however this yr he’s out of luck. “In Tokyo [2020], sure, they’ve made a particular mattress, however sadly not right here [at Paris 2024],” Rezaeigarkani defined.

Associated: All the Should-See Images From the 2024 Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics have created a number of picture-perfect moments since kicking off on July 26. Maybe probably the most viral snap got here throughout the third spherical of the boys’s browsing competitors on July 29. After finishing a barrel journey in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina soared within the air and pointed his finger towards the […]

Nevertheless, the coach added that this inconvenience isn’t getting his star participant down.

“He doesn’t have a particular mattress, however he has bought an important goal in his thoughts. It doesn’t matter for him whether or not he’ll lay on the ground or he’s not going to have sufficient to eat. In any manner, he has the thoughts to change into a champion.”

Paris marks Mehrzadselakjani’s third Paralympics look. He scored gold along with his workforce at 2016’s Rio and 2020’s Tokyo Video games and is hoping for a three-peat in Paris.

Mehrzadselakjani, who has acromegaly — a uncommon situation inflicting extra progress hormone — suffered a damaged pelvis throughout a bicycle accident as a teen which precipitated his proper leg to cease rising, making it shorter than his left.

He joined the Iranian sitting volleyball workforce in 2015 when he was found by the coach by way of an look on a actuality TV present. Now, he says he’s turning “limitations into alternatives.”

Associated: Which Sports activities Are Being Reduce and Added for 2028 L.A. Olympics? What to Know

As Paris passes the torch to Los Angeles because the host of the 2028 Summer time Olympics, the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) has already adjusted the occasion schedule. In 2023, the IOC accepted proposals for 5 new sports activities on the 2028 Olympics, a few of which — together with lacrosse and cricket — haven’t been seen on the […]

“I’ve at all times been known as the ‘tall boy’ even earlier than becoming a member of the nationwide workforce or the Paralympic Video games,” he informed AFP on August 27 previous to the beginning of the Video games on August 28. “Taking part in sitting volleyball helped me so much. The physique that I as soon as thought-about as very dangerous has helped me on this recreation, and I may make good use of it.”

Iran has participated within the sitting volleyball Paralympic Video games since 1988, successful a outstanding seven out of 9 occasions. Mehrzadselakjani is an important asset to the present lineup, incomes him the nickname “the Deadly Weapon” in his nation.

Whereas Mehrzadselakjani is happy with his accomplishments with the workforce, he’s fast to notice that his teammates deserve simply as a lot credit score as he does.

“I admire being known as the very best within the recreation, however I’m not,” he stated. “Every of our guys is the very best … and we make the very best workforce on the earth.”