Meet the 8ft 1in Paralympian who is so tall he has to sleep on the floor

Mehrzad, as his name is commonly shortened, is an Iranian sitting volleyball player and the seventh tallest human in recorded history

Morteza Mehrzadselakjani might be an icon of Iranian sport, but he receives precious few privileges at the Paralympic Village. At 8ft 1in, he discovers, as the second-tallest person in the world, that there is no bed that can accommodate his colossal frame, forcing him to sleep on the floor instead.
“It doesn’t matter if he lies on the ground or if he doesn’t have enough to eat,” explains Hadi Rezaei, his coach here in Paris. “He has the mind to become a champion.”
This is hardly an exaggeration: since this captivating figure made his debut for Iran’s sitting volleyball team in 2016, they have only tasted glory, winning two Olympic golds and two successive world titles. The 36-year-old’s height, which dwarfs that of even the tallest basketball players, is such that he can smash a ball that is 6ft 4in off the ground while sitting in a wheelchair. So vast is his wingspan that in a six-a-side sport, he can cover a third of the net on his own.
And yet Mehrzad, as his name is commonly shortened, discovered this calling only through the most improbable twist of fate. He competes at the Paralympics in light of the fact that at 13, he suffered a cycling accident, fracturing his pelvis so severely that it limited the growth of his right leg. Because of his genetic condition called acromegaly, triggered by excessive growth hormone production in the brain’s pituitary gland, the right grew six inches shorter than the left leg, forcing him to use a walking stick and causing him such acute depression that for the best part of a decade, he confined himself to his house in the Caspian Sea town of Chalus. “I was too ashamed to go out,” he reflects.
Mehrzad is the seventh tallest human in recorded history, with Turkish farmer Sultan Kosen, at 8ft 3¼in, the only person alive registered as having greater height than the painfully shy Iranian. During those solitary formative years, he found refuge in his books, in particular the novels of Victor Hugo and biographies of Napoleon. It was one of Iran’s most popular TV shows, Mah-e Asal – meaning “Honeymoon” in Farsi – that catapulted him from his life of isolation. For as he told his story to millions, his future coach “Mr Hadi” was in the audience, realising how his giant stature could be put to immediate sporting use.
“Sitting volleyball allowed me to affirm my personality,” said Mehrzad, who reflects how he went from despairing of his prospects to perfecting his craft at the gym. “Today, I read pride in people’s eyes. Some do not know that I am disabled. Before discovering this sport, I was a person known only for my height. Everything has changed for me since then, financially, socially. It has changed my life so much that I can’t imagine life without it. I can never thank Mr Hadi enough. If he hadn’t believed in me, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Courtesy of Mehrzad’s dominant presence, Iran, who beat Ukraine 3-0 in their opening match and play Brazil on Sunday, are the runaway favourites for a third consecutive Paralympic triumph. “Once, as soon as he went out, everyone looked at him,” Rezaei explains. “Now all Iranians see him as a champion. The whole world knows him and respects him.”
Mehrzad, three times the world player of the year, has become such a cult figure of these Games that Meyssam, a Franco-Iranian nurse in Paris, has taken to joining his family in the front row, waving the national colours at each match. “He has gone from being a freak show to a celebrity,” he said.
For Mehrzad, mapping the future is complicated. The nature of his condition is such that he is still growing taller, with those diagnosed with acromegaly predicted on average to live 10 years fewer than the rest of the population. He is not always comfortable, either, with monopolising attention. “I appreciate being called the best, but I’m not,” he says. “Each of us makes the best team in the world.” While his only thought in Paris is of glory, his ultimate happiness lies in finding a release from a condition that he has always regarded as a curse.