Väinö Myllyrinne
Väinö Myllyrinne, (27 February 1909, Helsinki – 13 April 1963, Järvenpää, Finland[1]) was an acromegalic giant who was at one time (1961–1963) the world's tallest person. He stood 222 cm (7 feet 3.4 inches) and weighed 197 kg (31 stone) at the age of 21, but experienced a second phase of growth in his late thirties, attaining a height of 251 cm (8 feet 3 inches).
Myllyrinne is considered the tallest soldier ever, having served in the Finnish Defence Forces. He was also voted 12th greatest Finn in the TV show Suuret suomalaiset, largely due to a tongue-in-cheek Internet campaign criticising the idea of the show. The advocates of the campaign thought that because one cannot pick just one person to be the Greatest Finn for their accomplishments, Väinö Myllyrinne would actually be the "biggest Finn" because of his height (in Finnish, the word suuri means both "big" and "great").[2] He had a 15.7 inch hand span, the greatest known.
| Preceded by Robert Wadlow |
Tallest Recognized Person 1940?-1963 |
Succeeded by Unknown: Closest is Don Koehler who had the record six years later. |
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