Hong-Man Choi - Height: 7’2″
It seems that even Connor McGregor would feel fear when he looks at kick boxer and mixed martial artist Hong-Man Choi standing in front of him in the ring as he would look like a giant when compared to McGregor. Choi, also referred to as the 'Korean Colossus,' 'Techno Goliath,' and 'Korean Monster,' stands 7 feet and 2 inches tall. His opponents would probably start shivering in fear just listening to these nicknames! You would be surprise to know that when Choi isn't fighting, he is pursuing a career in the fields of music and acting.
Yao Ming - Height: 7’6″
When the world first found out about basketball player Yao Ming, they couldn't believe their eyes, because of how tall he was... 7'6" to be exact. Others may have surpassed his record for the tallest NBA player, but we will never forget that many jaws dropped when they first laid their eyes on Yao Ming. His career in basketball can be called successful, he led the Houston Rockets to win in the first round in 2009, and he got to the NBA playoffs a total of 4 times. Unfortunately Ming suffered from a foot injury that required some attention of medical doctors, and he needed physical therapy for it. After being on the sidelines for 250 games because of his injury, Ming decided to retire.
John Krahn - Height: 7ft
We imagine people who have gotten in the way of NFL player John Krahn, and they sure would have needed a massage or some serious therapy after their game. Because the high school footballer player is 7 ft tall and weighs 400 lbs, an injury to his opponents is no joke at all. Krahn is only 17 years old and there is no telling how successful he would become in the future, especially in the NFL. As of now, his coach is trying to help him lose weight to achieve his ideal 360 lbs.
Michael Phelps - Height: 6’4″
Michael Phelps may not be as tall as the other athletes on this list, but his height sure did help him accomplish a lot in competitive swimming. The now retired Olympic swimmer is still one of the tallest swimmers in history, so his unusual height worked to his advantage. With a personal trainer to help him focus his training, Phelps became the most decorated Olympian in history, winning a whopping 28 medals, with 23 of them being gold.
Suleiman Ali Nashnush - Height: 8ft
Suleiman Ali Nashnush holds the record of being the tallest person who ever played professional sports. He is also one of the 17 people in the world who have surpassed 8 feet in height. The Libyan basketball player was treated by medical doctors to remove the cause of his abnormal growth, he probably needed pain management then especially because of his back pain. Nashnush died in 1991, and sources are not sure whether he was 47 or 48 at that time.
Gheorghe Muresan - Height: 7’7″
Gheorge Muresan may not have been the greatest NBA player, but he holds a record for the league, just by being the tallest player to ever play in the National Basketball League. He is not alone in that position though, because another player, Manute Bol, also stands at 7 ft and 7 in tall like him. The Romanian player's parents did not give him a specific diet so he could get as tall as he is today, rather a pituitary gland disorder is the cause of his unusual height. Just like Andre the Giant and Shaquille O'Neal, Muresan also became a movie star when he starred in the film My Giant with Billy Crystal.
Mamadou N’Diaye - Height: 7’6″
It would probably surprise basketball fans that when the very tall Mamadou N'Diaye was younger, he showed interest in soccer and not basketball. Originally from Senegal, N'Diaye was recruited by Amadou Koundol, who was the coach of the UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team at that time, and persuaded him to have a career in basketball in the United States. He was already in the country when N'Diaye found out he had a golf size tumor in his pituitary gland, which was also the cause of his gigantism. Medical doctors helped the young player so he could continue his basketball career.
Margo Dydek - Height: 7’2″
It shouldn't be a surprise for people who know the Dydek family in Poland, that Margo Dydek stands tall at 7 ft and 2 in. After all, her father was 6 ft 7 in tall, while her mom is 6 ft and 3 in tall. Dydek took advantage of her height and played basketball, eventually playing in the WNBA. To this day, she is considered to be the tallest professional female basketball player in the world. After retiring from the sport, Dydek moved Australia to raise a family and coach the Northside Wizards in the Queensland Basketball League. Sadly at the age of 37, Dydek died because of a heart attack while she was pregnant with her third child.
Peter Crouch - Height: 6’7″
The tallest soccer player in the history of the sports probably needed to 'crouch' whenever he sees a regular sized door, no pun intended there. Of course we are referring to Peter Crouch who plays as a striker for Premier League club Burnley. Prior to his stint with Burnley, 'Crouchy,' as he is fondly called by his teammates, has played for Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Liverpool. Playing professional soccer may pose many dangers of personal injury, and we believe this giant of a player has some good medical insurance to cover his treatments, should he need any.
Aleksey Kazakov - Height: 7’2″
Aside from basketball, another sport where you can use height to your advantage is volleyball. Imagine hitting the ball only to be blocked all the time by a player in-front of you who is overly tall. Many who played against Aleksey Kazakov's team may have felt that, with the Russian volleyball player's height being 7’2″. Some of Kazakov's achievements in the sport include a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and silver medal at Olympics held at Sydney in 2000.
Shaquille O’Neal - Height: 7’1″
The most recognizable biggest athlete in history is probably Shaquille 'The Shaq Attack' O’Neal. Just about anyone, especially fans of basketball and movies, know who Shaq is. He is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA, and surely vitamins and diet were not responsible for his incredible height of 7 ft 1 in, he was just born with it! Because of his charm and sense of humor, Shaq found a career in Hollywood, starring in films like Blue Chips, Kazaam, and The Lego Movie.
Usain Bolt - Height: 6’5″
Usain Bolt may be retired but he is still considered the fastest man alive. In fact, he is renowned as the greatest sprinter who has ever lived. According to Bolt, even as a young boy all he ever thought about was sports. He played cricket and football in high school. When Bolt's cricket coach noticed how fast he was then, he suggested for him to try sprinting. With the help of a personal trainer, Bolt was able to reach his full potential. Of course it helped that he was very tall with long legs that made his stride longer.
Nikolai Valuev - Height: 7ft
Nikolai Valuev's parents were short people, so you can imagine their surprise when they had a son who grew up to be 7 ft tall. Despite that, Valuev did have an ancestor who was tall, his great grandfather, who some called a 'warrior giant of Russian folklore'. Valuev used his extraordinary height to his advantage and played boxing, where he became known as the tallest and heaviest world champion in boxing history. The boxer's extraordinary height is attributed to the medical condition of gigantism brought about by the disease acromegaly. People with Valuev’s condition often complain of back pains.
Maria Sharapova - Height: 6’2″
Because of her skills on the tennis court plus her gorgeous face, many forget that Russian tennis player Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is actually more than 6 feet tall! After moving to the United States, Sharapova has achieved great feats in tennis, she has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the WTA 5 times, and she's an Olympic medalist. Although the tennis star needed professional help from medical doctors to provide treatment and physical therapy for her many injuries, she was able to get back in the game and is still currently competing in different world tournaments.
Randy Johnson - Height: 6’8″
Major League Baseball players usually undergo a lot of training to become great in their games, but not without their share of injuries, and regular wear and tear of their bodies that comes with playing a rough sport. This is probably what famous pitcher Randy Johnson's regular routine was back then, when he played 22 seasons in the MLB. Famously known as The Big Unit, Johnson holds many record, one of them being among the tallest players in the league.
Chuck Nevitt - Height: 7’5″
Some people who are unusually tall usually suffer from low self esteem, preventing them from excelling in professional or personal life. But not Chuck Nevitt, who decided to play basketball so that he could put his height to great use. Nevitt is now retired from the NBA but still, he is considered to be one of the tallest players ever in NBA history, the tallest being Romanian Gheorghe Mureșan. Nevitt played for different teams his entire NBA career, specifically Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and Chicago Bulls. Mureșan may have been taller than Nevitt, but it's the latter who holds the record for the tallest NBA player in history to win an NBA Championship.
Konishiki Yasokichi - Weight: 633 lb
Two of the many nicknames of Konishiki Yasokichi are 'Meat Bomb' and 'Dump Truck'. The sumo wrestler is said to be the biggest sumo wrestler in history, weighing 633 lb. While other athletes only face the dangers of physical injuries for playing sport, sumo wrestlers also have other health risks because of the weight they are required to maintain and certain diet that is obviously not good for the body. Yasokichi eventually decided to have medical doctors perform gastric bypass surgery on him to help lose the excess weight. After retiring from professional sumo wrestling, he pursued music, which was his first love.
Lisa Leslie - Height: 6’5″
Although she isn't the tallest woman to ever play in the Women's Basketball Association (WNBA), Lisa Leslie's height (6 ft and 5 in) is still very impressive. It helped her become a three time MVP for the WNBA. Athletes do maintain a proper diet and take a lot of vitamins to help them maintain the right weight and gain just the right amount of muscles, with some even starting their routines even before they turned professionals. Leslie is one of those people who was meant to be an athlete, inheriting her height and basketball skills from her parents. If you must know, Leslie's mother was 6 ft and 3 in tall!
Jorge Gonzalez - Height: 8ft
Wouldn't you feel fear when an 8 ft tall man was standing in-front of you in the ring during a wrestling match? Apparently The Undertaker didn't, when he faced Jorge 'El Gigante' Gonzalez at WrestleMania IX of the WWE and defeated him. Besides wrestling, Gonzalez also played basketball and appeared on television thanks to the popular TV series such as Baywatch, Hercules in the Underworld, and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Sadly Gonzalez died young at only 44 because of severe heart issues and diabetes. Gonzalez was only one of the few athletes who reached up to the height of 8 feet.
Rik Smits - Height: 7’4″
Rik Smits didn't need a specific diet to grow tall, he was born with it and he used it so he could play the sport he loved, which was basketball. The NBA player is 7’4″ and is called the 'The Dunking Dutchman' because he is, well, Dutch. When he was just 14 years old, the basketball player left his native Netherlands to go to the United States to play for Marist College while he attended high school. He was later drafted by the Indiana Pacers to play for the NBA, and it's the team he continued playing for until he retired.
Richard Metcalfe - Height: 7ft
It is very common for the world's tallest athletes to play basketball, and so it is very surprising when you encounter one playing rugby. But it was Richard Metcalfe's passion to play the sport, so standing 7 feet tall, he became the tallest in history to play international rugby. Metcalfe played for the Newcastle Falcons and Newcastle Saints. Because of a long-term knee injury that he suffered, Metcalfe was forced to resign. No amount of physical therapy could help him play professional rugby again.
Holley Mangold - Weight: 415 lbs
If you are not a fan of sports but feel that Holley Mangold looks familiar, then you may have watched her on TV, competing in the The Biggest Loser and The Biggest Loser: Second Chances 2. By profession, though, Mangold is a weightlifting athlete who is considered to be one of biggest female weightlifters in history. Mangold was part of the 2012 US Olympic Team, with her heaviest weight being 415 lbs. She currently coaches the Dayton Barbell Club in her native state of Ohio.
Sharran Alexander - Weight: 448 lb
Sharran Alexander holds a Guinness World Record, which recognizes her of being the heaviest sportswoman in the world at 448 lbs. She is currently listed as 2nd Kyu grade in the British Sumo Federation, winning four gold medals in different international tournaments. But Alexander hasn't always been a sumo wrestler, because, by profession, she is actually a child minder or a nanny. Parents would definitely feel safe when their kids are looked after by Alexander, as any threat that would come their way would be dealt with easily by the wrestler!
Andre The Giant - Height: 7’4″
When you think of the words biggest and athlete, the person that first comes to mind is WWF wrestler-turned-movie star Andre the Giant. Andre stood at 7’4” and weighed a whopping 520 lbs! We can just imagine the back pain any opponent of his felt when he battled the famous wrestler, surely a medical doctor was needed near the ring! Because of his popularity, Andre, also called 'Grenoble in the French Alps', became a movie star, you may remember him as the lovable Fezzik in The Princess Bride. Andre reached his incredible size because of an illness called 'acromegaly,' the same disease that caused his death at the age of 46.
Amazon Eve - Height: 6’8″
Although she's not technically an athlete, Amazon Eve made our list because aside from modeling, she also works a personal trainer. Amazon Eve's real name is actually Erika Ervin, and she was born male but underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2004. One of the reasons that pushed Eve to become a trainer is because of her struggles with weight loss early in her life. With proper diet she was able to achieve a healthy body, and soon after she started getting jobs modeling. Eve was named by the Guinness World Records as the World's Tallest Professional Model in 2011.