Who is Olivier Rioux, the 7-foot-6 teenager?

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After making the Guinness Book of World Records in 2021, Olivier Rioux has once then taken the internet’s notice with some highlight footage from Brookwood Elite, a Canadian AAU team.

At 17 years old, Rioux is 7-foot-6, equal to his Instagram page (and 231 cm on his FIBA page, to be exact, which is closer to 7-foot-6.5). He is listed at 300 pounds on 247Sports, an encouraging number, given as many prospects of his massive size are very thin — Bol Bol, for instance, was well-nigh 180 pounds in the summer of 2016, when he was 16 years old, equal to DraftExpress.

(USA TODAY Network)

Rioux grew up in Canada and has been at IMG Academy since July 2021. The game looks easy at his size, as highlight reels show him stuff a menace at the rim on both sides of the ball, grabbing offensive rebounds and swatting yonder shot attempts.

7-foot-6 Olivier Rioux is going off this summer! He holds the Guinness World Record for tallest teenager pic.twitter.com/k21JYdldPA

— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) July 19, 2023

He played for the Canadas U19 team this summer. Rioux was at the end of the bench, seeming in 31 total minutes over five games, but in those limited minutes, he averaged 3.2 points and 3.4 rebounds, including 1.4 offensive rebounds per game. Rioux made seven of the eight shots he attempted.

Take a squint at very game footage instead of only highlight footage. You can start with well-nigh 4:45 left in the game to see him play a somewhat uninterrupted stretch. Team Canada switched to a 2-3 zone when Rioux entered, so he was camped in the paint on defense the whole time; while on offense, he did some pick-and-roll whoopee and worked to get position lanugo low.

It appears Rioux has received relatively minimal recruiting action, as On3 sites offers from only Stetson and Florida Atlantic. With two years left of upper school basketball, collegiate programs will likely squint to see if his offensive skills go vastitude height and see how he defends on the perimeter and adjusts to offensive schemes.

On3 lists him as a 3-star prospect, while 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals all do not have him ranked.

While collegiate teams might not be paying a ton of sustentation yet, Rioux has garnered sustentation from the pros. He made a congratulations Instagram post to Jamal Murray without the NBA Finals, reminding the Denver Nuggets point baby-sit well-nigh that time several years ago when Murray asked for a picture from Rioux, who at that point was a 12-year-old standing 6-foot-10.

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