The world we dwell in often surprises us with its diversity. Below is a list of 12 such fascinating individuals or real life giants who are unique and interesting in their own ways. They come from various different parts of the globe. Let us have a brief look at their lives, which might amaze as well as inspire you!!!
1. Sun Fang (China)
Sun Fang, a mighty 7 feet 3 inches (221 cm) tall woman was born in China in the year 1987. Sun Fang won the title of the tallest woman after Yao Defen (who was 7’8” tall) died in 2012, and is currently the tallest woman in China and also the tallest woman alive in the world. She resembled Yao Defen a lot in appearance and as a result was often mistaken for her.
2. Sultan Kosen (Turkey)
Being 8 feet 3 inches (251 cm) tall, it is no surprise that Sultan has the title of the tallest living man in the world. He also has the largest hands in the world, each measuring 28.5 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger.
Sultan is happily married and has recently joined the Magic Circus of Samoa. Like most other exceptionally tall people in the world, Sultan had a tumor in his pituitary gland, which was removed successfully from his brain after several attempts, thereby putting a break to his accelerated growth.
3. Haflthor Julius Bjornsson (Iceland)
Haflthor who is 6’9” tall and weighs 185 kg, is quite popular among ‘Game of Thrones’ as Se Gregor “The Mountain”, for he appeared in the 4th, 5th and 6th seasons of the popular TV Show.
Along with being an actor, Haflthor is a former basketball player and a professional strongman. From 2012 to 2016 he has consistently come 2nd or 3rd in the World’s Strongest Man Competition. He is incredibly strong as well as quite popular.
4. Uljana Semjonova (Soviet Union)
Uljana was a popular Soviet-Latvian basketball player of the 70s and 80s, who became a champion several times in the Soviet Union and Europe. She is also credited for winning gold medals for her country in 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
Though she is not the tallest female basketball player, but is enormously tall with a height of 6 feet 11 inches and also has the biggest shoe size, so much so that she wears a men’s 21 (US) / 58 (EU) shoe.
5. Alicia Jay (United States)
This person on our list carries her uniqueness with swag. Herself being 6 feet 6 inches tall, Alicia lives in the United States and is a famous fashion blogger for tall women, as well as game operations manager for the Golden State Warriors, a NBA team based in California. Alicia is 35 years old and is famously known as the tallest virgin in the world, a major reason behind this behind her tall frame which makes dating difficult according to her.
6. Margo Dydek (Poland)
Margo was born in Poland and is famous as the tallest female basketball player in history, measuring 7 feet 2 inches tall. In the WNBA she played centre position for the Connecticut Sun and was also a coach in the Queensland Basketball League. Margo led a happy life in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and two sons, until she died in 2011 due to heart attack.
7. Shaquille O’Neal (United States)
Shaquille O’Neal nicknamed Shaq is a very famous basketball player of all times and is also one of the heaviest players ever in the NBA. Shaquille was born in 1972; he is 7 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 147 kg.
He retired from the game in 2011, but he was gifted with some extraordinary skills at the court which made him achieve the greatest career any basketball player could ever hope for. He currently works as an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA.
8. Rumeysa Gelgi (Turkey)
Rumesya Gelgi is 7 feet in height and has a world record in her name for being the world’s tallest teenager (female). She has been diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which causes rapid growth, known as Weaver’s Syndrome. However, she feels quite special about her height, but at the same time doesn’t want to grow any taller as she already faces difficulty while walking.
9. Romario Dos Santos Alves
Romario was a 25 years old bodybuilder from Brazil who faced a great number of health issues because of injecting an enhancement oil known as Synthol in his body. This made him popular among children who compared him to the Incredible Hulk, because of the enormous size of his muscles.
Synthol actually hardens ones muscles to an extreme level, leading to constant pain. Romario suffered the same fate and his kidneys failed. But luckily, doctors were capable of removing synthol from his system without amputating both his arms which seemed the only alternative when he fell ill.
10. Denis Cyplenkov (Ukraine)
Denis is a professional bodybuilder and arm wrestling champion, born in Ukraine in 1982. At the tender age of 11 Denis realized his potential as an arm wrestler and began training in the right direction. His hard work paid off and he won the “Nemiroff” (the largest international arm wrestling tournament) for two consecutive years, 2010 and 2011.
Weighing 140 kg and with a height of 6.1 ft, it is no wonder that Denis is often compared to the Incredible Hulk.
11. Brahim Takioullah (Morocco)
Brahim shares the second-tallest living person’s title in the world with Morteza Mehrzad from Iran and is also the tallest man of Morocco (8 feet and 1 inch). He was born in 1982 and is famous for having the largest feet in the world, which is over 15 inches (38 cm).
12. Elisany Silva (Brazil)
Silva is a famous 18 year old Brazilian model, with a height of 6 feet 9 inches. She recently got engaged to her boyfriend who is only 5 feet 4 inches high. But the height difference hardly matters for them. They are quite happy together and plan to have children in the future, even willing to adopt a child in case it is not possible for Elisany to conceive because of the tumor she had.