Olivier Rioux, the seven-foot-tall Guinness Book of World Record holder, was recently denied full eligibility by his college basketball team, Florida.
The tallest teenager in the world has drawn chants from Gators fans to be put on the floor during the team’s recent home games, despite not being among the core of Florida players.
Florida head coach Todd Golden has now revealed that the plan for Rioux is to redshirt him, meaning he cannot play one official second of the season without losing a full year of eligibility.
“I should have made that clear (earlier),” Golden said. “To be honest, it’s put him in a tough situation. He sits there at the end of games and everyone is yelling at him and trying to get him out.”
“They just didn’t understand that this was our potential plan for him. So that’s where we are right now.”
“I’m not saying this will be 100% the plan. We’ll keep talking to him and see if he changes what he wants to do. But from now on, that’s the plan we’ll have with him as we move forward.”
Rioux, the tallest teenager in the world, will likely sit out his first college basketball season
Rioux had received chants to participate in the recent matches in Florida but did not hit the floor
Rioux first came to prominence in the sense of a world record, as he was 6 feet tall at the age of 8 and 6 feet tall by the sixth grade.
Height doesn’t necessarily mean Rioux can compete with the best players in the Southeastern Conference.
“I just explained to him, ‘Hey, the reason I’m not putting you in right now is what we’ve been talking about for a while.’ This was not a choice I made for him,” Golden continued.
“This is something that people (from) our program have been talking to him and his family and his parents, his AAU coach, and just trying to figure out what the best route is for him.”
“I just went up to him and said, ‘Hey, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to you. I’m just not trying to burn your year by holding you down for 30 seconds.’