Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, the tallest Paralympian in historical past, has needed to sleep on the ground on the Paris 2024 Video games after not having a mattress he’s in a position to slot in, however the scenario “has now been resolved,” the IPC informed CNN.
Mehrzadselakjani – higher referred to as Mehrzad – is 2 meters, 46 centimeters (eight-foot-one-inch) tall and is the joint-second tallest man on the earth.
He is an important cog in Iran’s dominant males’s sitting volleyball workforce, having performed a key function in profitable gold within the final two Paralympic Video games.
His peak comes with particular necessities although. Iran’s head coach Hadi Rezaeigarkani stated that whereas Mehrzad had a particular mattress made for him in Tokyo three years in the past, an analogous building wasn’t made in Paris this time round.
Consequently, Rezaeigarkani stated, Mehrzad needed to “lie on the ground.”
“He doesn’t have a particular mattress, however he has obtained a very powerful purpose in his thoughts,” Rezaeigarkani stated to Olympics.com. “It doesn’t matter for him whether or not he’ll lay on the ground or he’s not going to have sufficient to eat. In any means, he has the thoughts to turn out to be a champion.”
Nonetheless, after information of Mehrzad’s struggles got here out, Paralympics organizers informed CNN Sport that the “matter has now been resolved.”
“The beds within the Paralympic Village are modular in design,” the IPC stated in an announcement. “The Paris 2024 workforce obtained a request from the Iranian NPC and responded by offering two extensions to the usual mattress. No additional request was made to Paris 2024 by the Iranian NPC, however the two extensions weren’t ample. Further extensions have now been made accessible.”
Mehrzad was recognized with acromegaly at a younger age – a situation inflicting extra development hormone. As a young person, a pelvis fracture attributable to a bicycle accident stopped his proper leg from rising, making it shorter than his left and making it tough to stroll.
Sitting on the ground along with his arms raised, Mehrzad reaches a peak of over six toes, making him a useful asset on the volleyball courtroom.
Mehrzad is an important part in Iran’s latest success in sitting volleyball, though the nation has traditionally been dominant within the males’s format for years now.
Of the 9 Paralympic Video games since Seoul 1988, Iran has taken residence the gold medal in seven of them.