Fitness Testing
Fitness Testing > Tests > Anthropometry > Height > Records > Tallest
World's Tallest in Sports
Measuring Height is one of the standard fitness tests in sports. Being tall is advantageous for many sports, such as basketball, volleyball and Rowing. Here are some examples of extremely tall sports people from a range of sports. See also a discussion and examples of the World's tallest and shortest people. This information about the tallest sports people of the world may change, as the current crop of players change and people grow.
Basketball
The current (2010) world's tallest man Sultan Kösen (8 ft 1.25 in/247 cm) once played basketball, but not at a professional level. One of the tallest players in the history of professional basketball is Sun Ming Ming, from Bayan in China. He stands 236 cm (7 ft 9 in) tall. He plays for the Maryland Nighthawks. The tallest player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history is Manute Bol, a Sudanese who measured 7 feet 7 inches (231 cm) tall, and played for the Washington Bullets. Of equal height was Romanian player Gheorghe Mureşan who also played in the NBA.
| Height | Height | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 231 cm | 7 ft 7 in | Gheorghe Mureşan | Retired Romanian professional basketball player. Tied as tallest player in NBA history. b.1971 |
| 245 cm |
8 ft ½ in | Suleiman Ali Nashnush | Libyan who was possibly the tallest basketball player. (b.1943 d.1991) |
| 231 cm | 7 ft 7 in | Manute Bol | Retired Sudanese professional basketball player. Tied as tallest player in NBA history. 1962–2010 |
| 229 cm | 7 ft 6 in | Yao Ming | From China. Tallest current NBA player. b.1980 |
See more about body size in basketball.
All Sports
| Sport | Height | Height | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFL | 211 cm | Aaron Sandilands | Equal tallest player in the history of Australian Football League. b.1982 | |
| AFL | 211 cm | Peter Street | Equal tallest player in the history of AFL/VFL. b.1980 | |
| American Football | 213 cm | 7 ft 0 in | Richard Sligh | Tallest American Football player in NFL history. 1944–2008 |
| Baseball | 218 cm | 7 ft 2 in | Loek van Mil | Tallest baseball player. b.1984 |
| Baseball | 211 cm | 6 ft 11 in | Jon Rauch | Tallest Baseball player in Major League Baseball. b.1978 |
| Boxing | 213 cm | 7 ft 0 in | Nikolai Valuev | Tallest title holder in Heavyweight Boxing. b.1973 |
| Cricket | 216 cm | 7 ft 1 in | Mohammad Irfan | Tallest international cricketer in the world. b.1982 |
| Cricket | 208 cm | 6 ft 10 in | Will Jefferson | Tallest First Class Cricket player. b.1979 |
| Golf | 197 cm | 6 ft 5.5 in | George Archer | Tallest golfer on the PGA Tour. 1939–2005 |
| Ice Hockey | 206 cm | 6 ft 9 in | Zdeno Chára | Tallest player in National Hockey League history. b.1977 |
| Kickboxing | 218 cm | 7 ft 2 in | Choi Hong-man | Tallest Kickboxer and Mixed Martial Artist. b.1980 |
| Rugby Union | 213 cm | 7 ft 0 in | Richard Metcalfe | Tallest Rugby union player in history. b.1973 |
| Soccer | 208 cm | 6 ft 10 in | Kristof Van Hout | From Belgium. Tallest Association Football player. Plays as goalkeeper. b.1987 |
| Soccer | 201 cm | 6 ft 7 in | Peter Crouch | Tallest English footballer. b.1981 |
| Swimming | 204 cm | 6 ft 8 in | Matt Grevers | Tallest Olympic Swimmer. b.1985 |
| Tennis | 208 cm | 6 ft 10 in | Ivo Karlović | Tallest Tennis player on the ATP Tour. b.1979 |
| Track & Field | 201 cm | 6 ft 7 in | Ingo Schultz | Tallest sprinter. b. 1975 |
| Volleyball | 218 cm | 7 ft 2 in | Aleksey Kazakov | Russian volleyball player. b.1976 |
| Weightlifting | 201 cm | 6 ft 7 in | Velichko Cholakov | Tallest Olympic weightlifter. b.1982 |
Related Pages
- procedure for measuring Height
- examples of the World's tallest and shortest people
- more Fitness Testing Records and other Sporting Records
- sporting records from the Guinness World Records
- converting cm to ft and in and vice versa.
- More Records? I scan the internet for the latest athlete results. If you know of something I have missed, it would be great to hear from you.
