What it's like to be Olivier Rioux -- the tallest college basketball player ever

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- At an on-campus dining hall in September, a fork and knife looked like a toddler's toy utensils in the massive hands of Olivier Rioux. Everything about Florida's 7-foot-9, 305-pound center, is supersized -- just check the book of Guinness World Records, where he holds the official title for tallest teenager.

"I wear size 20 shoes," Rioux told ESPN. "I eat 5,000 to 6,000 calories every day."

It's fuel for a body with proportions college basketball has never seen.

When he made his much-anticipated debut for the Gators in early November, Rioux (pronounced Ree-YOO) became the tallest player in college basketball history to check into a game. Two weeks after that, he became the tallest player to score a point after making a free throw. And in mid-December, he became the tallest player to record a field goal with a late-game dunk in a blowout win over Saint Francis.

Before he even entered that game -- his third of five appearances so far this season -- the crowd in Gainesville began to chant, "We want Ollie! We want Ollie!" The loudest cheers of the night erupted when he rose from his seat on the bench and walked to the scorer's table to check in. Minutes later, that slam sent the fans into a frenzy. His teammates hopped on one another's shoulders, his coaches high-fived and fans pointed to the ceiling and screamed.

"I knew it would be big, but I didn't know it would be like that," said Jean-Francois Rioux, Oliver's father.

Oliver has created a buzz on and off the court since he was a young player in Montreal. As a child, he towered over his peers, then his teachers and, well, eventually most of the globe. He was nearly 7 feet tall in elementary school. With his unique size and stature, he's a walking selfie opportunity for passersby.

The redshirt freshman's main focus is to eventually earn more playing time and enjoy the typical life of a college student. Florida considers him a promising project, though at this stage, he's a long way from filling up the stat sheet in the SEC. Still, he's the most popular player on the roster, as evidenced by the incessant requests for photos and autographs when he's out with the team. But while Rioux sometimes basks in the fame and attention of a rock star, he yearns to be acknowledged for his other attributes.

"Whenever I'm out with the guys or the team, I'm like, 'I don't want any pictures,'" he said. "When I'm walking to class, I'll do selfies while I'm walking. I've learned that technique. It works a lot because you don't get stopped by anybody. And then anything that involves kids asking for pictures, I'll do it because I don't want to feel bad."

Long before he caused a stir everywhere he went, Rioux was just a tall kid in Canada.

As a child, he was just the growing young man who would walk into a local restaurant with his 6-8 father, 6-2 mother Anne Gariepy (6-2) and 6-9 older brother, Emile, to order a half-dozen pizzas for the family.

That started to change in 2016.

Joel Anthony, a 6-10 former NBA forward who won two NBA titles with LeBron James and the Miami Heat, returned to Montreal to attend a kids basketball camp in town. Having faced some of the biggest athletes in the world, he wasn't easily impressed. Then, a friend of his introduced him to a 9-year-old Rioux.

"I was like, 'Where is the kid?'" Anthony said. "And he's like, 'This is the kid I was talking about.'"

Anthony had assumed Rioux was a camp counselor. They were the same height.

When a photo of Rioux and Anthony was posted on social media, it drew attention -- including from Canada Basketball officials, who contacted Rioux's family. Joining his country's official basketball development system helped him gain the training resources to facilitate his growth. Free clothes and shoes, too. And the games against top opposition on the grassroots circuit taught him to play with an edge.

"A 6-foot-10 kid tried to dunk on him and he missed, and he was chirping at Rioux," said Joey McKitterick, director of Brookwood Elite basketball program in Canada. "And then Rioux comes down and dunks on him, and then he pats the kid on the top of his head. And I was like, 'He just patted a kid who is 6-foot-10 on his head like he was his child.'"

As the legendary stories about the tallest kid anyone had ever seen -- he was 7 feet tall by age 12 -- circulated throughout Canada and beyond, Rioux's coaches had to call event organizers at youth basketball events to verify his age when they threatened to demand his birth certificate. The crowds at his games quickly grew. People wanted to see the boy who seemed like a myth. That attention wasn't always easy to handle for Rioux, according to those who were around him then.

"It is a little difficult when you're young and people don't know how to stare," Anthony said. "You have this growth spurt and now everyone's just staring at you and it's just constantly, everyone is staring at you."

Rioux's AAU coaches had to turn his teammates into "bodyguards" on road trips to keep those seeking autographs and pictures at bay. They would still snap selfies from afar and post them. A simple stroll through a mall, an airport or any place with throngs of people would present the possibility of hysteria for Rioux.

But in basketball, Rioux found a home and an identity. At Florida, he's just one of the guys, another player on a roster chasing a dream.

"The fans at Florida are crazy," he said. "The feeling of being supported by people, it just helps you a lot mentally and I feel like that's what I needed and that's what I've been provided with."

Whenever he gets to his hotel room on the road with the Gators, Rioux goes through his routine.

First, he backs his body into the room like a semi-truck backs into a loading dock because it's more efficient than trying to dip beneath a standard door frame (6-8) while facing forward. Then if the room has two beds -- preferably doubles or queens -- he'll pull one toward the other to make a T-shape, then sleep diagonally.

When a room has only one bed, well, then he really has to get creative.

"I just have a technique where I just pull the mattress back, put some pillows and cushions near the top of the bedframe so that the bed is long enough," he said. "I don't need the extra space in the room."

Just preparing his body for the wear and tear of a basketball season is a feat in and of itself. His training program involves a lot of work on his lower body to create and sustain the base he'll need to play long stretches if he's called upon.

"I can lose five pounds in a single day," Rioux said of his daily workout regimen. "I have to regain it with water and it's you can't just hold water. You've got to drink progressively and be worried about when you drink, how you drink and when you pee and all of that. There is a whole process."

At 7-9, the human body works harder. Much harder. But the energy Rioux expends at Florida to stay in shape -- he added 10 pounds of muscle over the offseason -- is not only in service of his basketball future, but his overall quality of life.

For now, Rioux hasn't had much of an opportunity to showcase the work he has done to prepare his body for play.

Florida's pecking order is set with a frontcourt of Alex Condon, NBA prospect Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu -- all of whom starred in last season's national title run. Rioux's efforts now are really about fighting for a role next season. His height is an X factor no opponents can match at this level. But he'll have to become quicker and more agile to play substantial minutes, according to those who have helped him develop over the years.

"It's a guard's game, so in order for a big guy like [Rioux] to really, really thrive, you'd have to slow the game down, walk the ball up the court, let him get in position and then throw it into him," said Michael Meeks, an assistant with the Canadian national team who has known Rioux for more than a decade. "There are not a lot of teams that walk the ball up in the SEC, so his head is under the water and he's going to have to really, really work to get it above it to impact the game."

Florida head coach Todd Golden said he won't make any definitive projections about Rioux's future at Florida, but he is impressed by his determination and work ethic.

"I know he's sitting over there probably like, 'Damn man, I didn't know all these guys were coming back,'" Golden said. "So it's going to be a tough one this year to play. It really will be. But ... I do think he has some really good basketball ahead of him, whether it's here at Florida or somewhere else."

That's a challenge Rioux has embraced because he wants to play. That's his ultimate goal; it's how he wants to be remembered with the Gators and the world. Whether an opportunity to make that a reality comes will depend on what happens this offseason. Although Rioux has played limited minutes this season (2.2 per game), Florida could lose its entire frontcourt to the NBA or graduation. That could open a lane for him -- and he's determined to stay until it does.

"I think a lot of people don't really know what I'm committed to doing," he said. "Obviously, you see a highlight here and there, but you don't see what the person is capable of doing. I want to push myself to be able to do that."

Added his father: "We are confident that [Rioux] will have his place at Florida and that he will be able to play."

Rather than stuff himself into a car, Rioux prefers to ride around Florida's campus on a bike. But it's not an ordinary bike. The DirtySixer AllRoad Mark II retails at $5,000. When standing upright on its back wheel, the bike is almost as tall as Rioux. San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is next on the company's list to get one of the limited edition bikes. Shaquille O'Neal already has one.

"I haven't figured out my driver's license," Rioux said. "I don't fit into cars. I don't fit into the driver's seat. I would have to customize it and learn how to drive it. And that's a lot. That's a lot of money."

Blending into a world made for the masses -- the average Canadian man is 5-10 -- but not a 7-9 man has always been the norm for Rioux. He has to "duckwalk" through the jet bridge at the airport and can sit only in exit rows unless he purchases extra seats for the legroom. And with his in-person classes in Gainesville, it's rare that he ever finds a suitable seat.

"The auditoriums are not made for tall people, so I have to sit in the back where there is a seat," he said. "You don't really hear the teacher."

The Florida athletic complex is one of the few places where he can relax without thinking about the next person to come up to him and ask him about his height or if he plays basketball or how tall he is. In the locker room, Rioux can be himself.

"He's a great kid," his teammate Boogie Fland said. "He's just a cool dude to be around and he is always caring about us."

Added Haugh: "People love him here. He loves it here, too. And he's been grinding. He has been lifting a lot and getting better. I see him working out, working on ballhandling. And I think if he gets things rolling, gets a little quicker, he's going to be good."

Florida is where Rioux is attempting to mold himself into the player he wants to be -- one with a future that will depend on how rapidly his skills develop and the way he conditions himself for the rigors of a season. In the meantime, the NIL and revenue sharing have helped him attain the 3XL gear -- and the king-plus mattress -- he needs. It also helps that clothing companies send him their stuff for free, hoping he can become their human billboard.

When he wants to turn it all off, though -- the buzz, the selfie requests, the gawking, the questions -- he connects with those who know him as "Ollie."

Back home in Montreal, he challenges his dad to PC games, mostly "Civilization" and "Minecraft." He enjoys reading manga and watching anime. He's even an artist himself; his sketches are scattered around his family home.

When he wasn't doodling as a kid, he was always close to a chessboard.

"He's very good at chess," his father said. "When he was young, he won the tournament at his school, but at some point, if you want to really be good at chess, you have to train, but basketball was taking too much of his time to do chess."