We’ve run articles before about demographic standouts in baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, and it’s been one of our most popular features. In advance of the Summer Olympics in Rio, here are some Olympics notables.
Tallest: Paulo César da Silva
Paulo César da Silva played for the Brazilian national basketball team at the 1988 Olympics. He later went pro…as a wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter. He stands at an imposing 7’2”.
Shortest: Asuka Teramoto
17-year old Japanese gymnast Asuka Teramoto competed in the 2012 games. She stands just 4’6″ tall, which is two inches shorter than the star of the 1984 Olympics, American gymnast Mary Lou Retton.
Biggest: Richard Blas, Jr.
In 2012, Richard Blas, Jr. competed for Guam in judo. (Technical name for a judo competitor: a judoka). He was listed at 481 pounds, the biggest athlete in Olympics history. In fact, he weight 94 pounds more than the entire Japanese women’s gymnastics squad.
American springboard diver Marjorie Gestring won the gold medal in the 3-meter dive at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. She was 13 years and nine months old, the youngest ever Olympic medalist.
Oldest: Oscar Swahn
In 1908, Oscar Swahn run two gold medals in shooting events for Sweden. He was 60 years old. In 1912, in his native Sweden, he won a gold and a bronze. When the war-delayed games resumed in 1920, he came in fourth in one event and second in another winning a medal at 72—the oldest medalist of all time.