Tall Athletes Index

We've done our best to find taller athletes for our Tall Athlete Index. We don't pretend that this could ever be a definative list. It was created to illustrate the fact that tall athletes excell in a wide range of sports and can do more than just play basketball. Your suggestions and contributions help.

BASEBALL
Tall guys make good pitchers. Now that a few have made a splash in the MLB, hopefully the door is wide open for others to follow.

6 ft 10 Randy Johnson is a south-paw, power pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

6 ft 10 Ryan Anderson was a First round draft pick. He's been out a couple of seasons due to shoulder problems, but he's a lefty too and often compared to Randy Johnson.

7 ft 1 Right handed pitcher, Ryan Doherty is featured in this article about his decision to persue college level baseball. This article compares him to his shortest (5ft7) competitor at the college level.

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BASKETBALL
This index is all about showcasing athletes in other sports. We still like basketball though and because it is dominated by tall players, we included it in the list. For more specifics on players, check the NBA site--»

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BOXING
A longer reach and powerful punches make tall boxers intimidating, but captivating to see in action.

7ft Nikolay Valuev is the tallest heavyweight ever.

6ft6 Wladimir Klitschko and 6ft8 Vitali Klitschko are brothers. Both are world class boxers.

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CRICKET
While the basic concept of cricket may be similar to that of baseball, cricket requires finesse and timing as much as power.

6ft10 Will Jefferson is probably the tallest professional cricketer ever. He has the potential to become a great slip fielder because of his exceptional reach, and claims he can play deliveries that shorter batsmen cannot. Both attributes make him quite a dynamic young player.

6ft8 West Indian fast bowler Joel Garner yielded ground to no man,and is widely considered to be the meanest-ever bowler in one day cricket. His Test record was equally impressive. Nicknamed 'Big Bird' by his teammates and the press, Garner was an integral part of the great West Indian teams of the late 1970s and 1980s.

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DECATHLON
The decathlon is a track and field event that consists of ten sporting contests held over a two-day period. The event pushes athletes to their limits and is one of the most highly respected gold medals in Olympic competition.

6ft7 Roland Schwartzl is Austria's most popular, if not its tallest decathalete.

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FOOTBALL
Tall guys abound in the National Football League. There are far too many to mention individually here. For more specifics on players, check the NFL site--»

The Berlin Thunder have the tallest collection of wide receivers in the European NFL.

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KICK-BOXING
With so many styles to choose from, this newly Americanized sport is fast becoming a staple of the cable TV channels.

7 ft Semmy Schilt is the 3 time "King of Pancrase" and has been crowned DaiDoJuku Hokutoki Champion twice.

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ROWING
The rotational inertia of longer limbs help taller athletes excel at this endurance sport.

6ft5 Sir Steve Redgrave is the UK's most popular and successful Olympic sportsman. His achievement in gaining five consecutive gold medals in rowing, is unparalleled in Olympic history and makes him one of the most successful athletes of all time. Now in his forties and retired from competition, Sir Steve has embraced his sports celebrity status full-time. He helped open the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester

6ft5 Matthew Pinsent first teamed up with Sir Steve Redgrave in 1990 for the coxless pair. The two continued rowing together through most of the 1990s which culminated in their triumphant gold medal finish in the coxless fours at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

• Just found this great article on a world class rower's physiology. Finally scientific proof that tall guys are well suited to do more than play basketball.

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SOCCER
The 2006 World Cup forced the international media to look for unique angles to report on the tournament. A focus

6 ft 7 in British player Peter Crouch signed to Liverpool for £7 million, making him worth over £30,000 per centimetre to the club. His post-goal dance with hands outstretched, elbows rigid at right angles and jerky movements have been widely parodied.

6 ft 7 in Caribbean player Dennis Lawrence is a defender in the Trinidad and Tobago team. He also plays for Wrexham FC.

6 ft 8 in Serbian player Nikola Zigic. The Red Star Belgrade striker is Serbia’s secret weapon - he’s scored 55 goals in 77 matches during the last two seasons, and has been voted Serbia’s player of the year twice in the last three years. And he set up two of Mateja Kezman’s goals in qualifying.

6 ft 8 in Czech player Jan Koller has been recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury that he sustained in the 2005 season. He is deadly in the air but is also blessed with a good touch as well. Koller’s international goalscoring record of better than a goal every other has helped him become the Czech’s all-time leading scorer.

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SWIMMING
Aquatics has it's first international tall star.

6 ft 4 in Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe may have to shave (and wear those awful all-over body suits) to gain all those Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medals, but the size 17 feet seem to help too.

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VOLLEYBALL
With the addition of the two-person sand game to the Olympic line-up, Volleyball's popularity is growing. Whatever style of game, taller athletes will always be a major force at the net.

Canyon Ceman is 6ft5 and his best international finish was a second with Mike Whitmarsh in the 1997 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Los Angeles. Ceman led the Los Angeles Athletic Club to an indoor volleyball national title earlier in 2001.

At 6ft7, it's easy to see why Mike Whitmarsh began playing volleyball in 1986 and is one of the few top 10 players who did not grow up playing the sport. Whitmarsh teamed with Mike Dodd to capture the Silver Medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Recently, he placed first (2000) and second (2001) in the last two King of the Beach competitions in Las Vegas.

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WRESTLING
Merging athleticism and entertainment in a sometimes surreal way, professional wrestling isn't considered a true sport by many.

At 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, Brock Lesnar is a rock-solid mountain of chiseled muscle. He lived up to his hype by defeating WWE supertar, The Rock at SummerSlam. Doing so, he became the youngest WWE Undisputed Champion ever. Brock's Officical WWE Bio can be seen HERE

He's 6ft10 and weighs 328 pounds. For more than 11 years, The Undertaker has been a WWE mainstay. He's feuded with all the greats -- from Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior to Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock -- and lived to tell about it. No other superstar has ever had the run of success enjoyed by the American Badass.

Weighing an astronomical 500 pounds and standing 7ft2, The Big Show made his debut at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view show in February 1999. He has been wowing WWE fans ever since.

An Amazing 7'7 wrestler, Giant Gonzalez was reported to have weighed around 450 pounds. He started wrestling with the WCW as El Gigante then transferred to the WWE with 1993's Royal Rumble Match.

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