University of Florida basketball player Olivier Rioux reaches new heights with the 2026 NCAA March Madness Tournament.
Rioux, 20, stands tall at 7-foot-9, making him the tallest athlete to ever compete in the tournament, according to Athletic. Rioux helped the Florida Gators beat the Prairie View A&M Panthers 114-55 on Friday, March 20, in a rivalry game.
Rioux, who plays center for the Gators, is in his sophomore year at the University of Florida and entered Friday’s game in the final minutes of the contest, adding an exclamation point to the team’s victory with a highlight reel before the final buzzer.
“Absolutely unbelievable,” the Gators forward Alex Condon he told reporters after the game. “He’s a very tall guy. He gets out there, and everybody’s chanting to get him the ball. He does a good job of controlling that pressure and taking the right shots.”
Rioux, a member of The Gators‘ The 2025 national team of winners, previously set the Guinness World Record for the tallest boy at the age of 16.
“We are not 100 percent sure why I am so tall. After the investigation, the doctors were only able to explain the genetics that my family has,” said this native of Canada. Guinness at that time. “My dad is 6’8, my mom is 6’2 and my older brother is 6’9. So. we’re a very tall family! It’s nice to be the height I am. I love you.”
He went on to say, “I was always taller than my other friends at school or the ones I play with. This is what nature planned for me.”
Rioux increased his stature in the collegiate basketball career.
Olivier Rioux plays in the Florida vs. Prairie View A&M Panthers on Friday, March 20.
Mike Carlson/Getty Images“I have been playing basketball since I was 5 years old. The opposing team used to ask my age, because even when I was 5 years old I was taller than other kids,” he recalled at the time. “Even though no one asks my age anymore, sometimes before the game the opponents look at me with question marks in their eyes. Usually they just ask a question at the free throw line like, ‘How tall are you?’
This athlete added about his competitors and said, “They were impressed when they started but that doesn’t make them any less in this game. They challenge me a lot because of my size.”
Rioux and the Gators will next play the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, March 22, in the next round of the NCAA tournament.
