Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, the tallest Paralympian in history, goes for his third gold medal at 2024 Paris Paralympics
CNN
Iran’s men’s sitting volleyball team has a not-so-secret weapon: meet Morteza Mehrzadselakjani and at eight-foot-one-inch, he’s the tallest Paralympian in history.
Morteza Mehrzadselakjani knows a thing or two about winning. With two Paralympic gold medals to his name already, the Iranian is the not-so-secret weapon of his country’s men’s sitting volleyball team and is aiming for a three-peat at the 2024 Paris Games. At two meters, 46 centimeters (eight-foot-one-inch) tall, Mehrzadselakjani – better known as Mehrzad – is the tallest Paralympian in history and the joint-second tallest man in the world. The 36-year-old is a vital cog in Iran’s successful men’s sitting volleyball team, helping the team to back-to-back golds in Rio and then Tokyo. But for one of the most dominant players in the sport, his route into competing wasn’t the most orthodox. He only started playing sitting volleyball for the national team six months before the Rio Games after being spotted on a TV program.
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