Iranian sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzadselakjan won’t let a little discomfort come between himself and a potential gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics.
The athlete, 36, who at 8 feet 1 inch is the second-tallest man in the world and the tallest Paralympic athlete in history, doesn’t fit into the beds at Paris’ Olympic Village. But he’s making do with a simple solution.
The team’s head coach, Hadi Rezaeigarkani, told Olympics.com on Friday, August 30, “He’s going to lie on the floor.”
According to the coach, past Games have made special accommodations for Mehrzadselakjan, but this year he’s out of luck. “In Tokyo [2020], yes, they have made a special bed, but unfortunately not here [at Paris 2024],” Rezaeigarkani explained.
However, the coach added that this inconvenience isn’t getting his star player down.
“He doesn’t have a special bed, but he has got the most important aim in his mind. It doesn’t matter for him whether he will lay on the floor or he’s not going to have enough to eat. In any way, he has the mind to become a champion.”
Paris marks Mehrzadselakjani’s third Paralympics appearance. He scored gold with his team at 2016’s Rio and 2020’s Tokyo Games and is hoping for a three-peat in Paris.
Mehrzadselakjani, who has acromegaly — a rare condition causing excess growth hormone — suffered a broken pelvis during a bicycle accident as a teen which caused his right leg to stop growing, making it shorter than his left.
He joined the Iranian sitting volleyball team in 2015 when he was discovered by the coach via an appearance on a reality TV show. Now, he says he is turning “limitations into opportunities.”
“I have always been called the ‘tall boy’ even before joining the national team or the Paralympic Games,” he told AFP on August 27 prior to the start of the Games on August 28. “Playing sitting volleyball helped me a lot. The physique that I once considered as very bad has helped me in this game, and I could make good use of it.”
Iran has participated in the sitting volleyball Paralympic Games since 1988, winning a remarkable seven out of nine times. Mehrzadselakjani is a crucial asset to the current lineup, earning him the nickname “the Fatal Weapon” in his country.
While Mehrzadselakjani is proud of his accomplishments with the team, he is quick to note that his teammates deserve just as much credit as he does.
“I appreciate being called the best in the game, but I’m not,” he said. “Each of our guys is the best … and we make the best team in the world.”
