Väinö Myllyrinne
Väinö Myllyrinne | |
|---|---|
 Väinö Myllyrinne (Right) | |
| Born | February 27, 1909 |
| Died | April 13, 1963 (aged 54) |
| Height | 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m) |
Väinö Myllyrinne (27 February 1909 in Helsinki – 13 April 1963 in Järvenpää, Finland[1]) was an acromegalic giant who was at one time (1961–1963) the world's tallest person. He stood 222 cm (7 ft 3 in) 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 ft 3 in).
Myllyrinne is considered the tallest soldier ever, having served in the Finnish Defence Forces. He underwent his conscript training in 1929 in the Viipuri Heavy Artillery Regiment, and was 220 cm tall and very strong. In the 1930s he travelled around Europe as a professional wrestler and circus performer. He returned to Finland in 1939 to serve in the Finnish Army during the Winter War. In 1946, he moved to Järvenpää and ran a chicken farm. He died in 1963 and is buried in Järvenpää.
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] In 1962, just a year before his death, he was measured by doctors at 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m). He had a 15.7 inches (400 mm) hand span, the greatest known.
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