Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Meet the world's tallest Paralympian vying for gold

Iranian athlete Morteza Mehrzad is the world’s tallest Paralympian and the world’s second tallest man, currently competing for Iran at the Men’s sitting volleyball event of the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Having made it to the semi-finals, Iran would be eyeing a gold medal in the sport, that has been dominated by them for years now. They are on track for back-to-back gold medals in the event at the Paralympics as they have previously won eight gold medals in the game, including the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Tallest Paralympian in the history of Paralympics

Morteza Mehrzad stands at a height of 2.46 meters and is the tallest Paralympian in history. He made his Paralympics debut for Iran during the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He was born with a rare medical condition known as acromegaly, which is a medical condition that arises when the brain’s pituitary gland produces too many growth hormones after the body’s growth plates have closed. He also met with a tragic bicycle accident when he was 15, and suffered a serious pelvic fracture. Following this accident, his right leg stopped growing and he started using a wheelchair or crutches in order to be able to walk. Many of his teammates have mentioned that the 33-year old athlete is still growing with his height.

By the time he was 16-years-old, Mehrzad already measured over 1.9 meters tall. He was spotted by Iran’s head coach Hadi Rezaei in 2011 after he featured in a television show about differently-abled people. He was selected into the Iran national team in 2016 and made his debut at the 2016 Rio Paralympics qualifiers. He was the top scorer for Iran in the finals of the Paralympics event, having scored 28 points for Iran. 

In Men’s sitting volleyball, Mehrzad is widely known for his spiking skills. Spiking is the term described as a forceful attacking shot to get the ball over the net. While sitting down, Mehrzad reaches a height of 1.93 meters in a sport where the height of the net is 1.15 meters off the floor. Since his addition into the team in 2016, the Iranian side has bolstered itself in the sport which they were already good at. Having made it to the semifinals after defeating China 3-0 in their previous match, Iran will now face Bosnia Herzegovina in the semifinals on Thursday.

(Image Source: C4Paralympics- Twitter)