Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, the second tallest man on the planet, has finally been supplied with a bed thats fits after it emerged that he had been sleeping on the floor in the Paralympic village in Paris.
The 36-year-old is one of the stars of Iran’s sitting volleyball team in the French capital and towers over his team-mates at a height of 8 feet 0.85 inches when standing.
Mehrzadselakjani, better known as Mehrzad, was born with acromegaly, an extremely rare condition which causes excess growth in various parts of the human body.
At the age of 15, Mehrzad sustained a serious pelvic fracture which stunted the growth in his right leg – leaving it 15 centimeters shorter than his left leg.
Mehrzad, who is widely regarded as an all-time great in the sport having won gold at the last two Games, was given a bed to suit his specific requirements in Tokyo three years ago.
However, it came to light that Paralympic organisers had failed to meet Mehrzad’s needs this summer and the Iranian had been forced to sleep on the ground.
‘In Tokyo, yes, they have made a special bed, but unfortunately not here,’ Iran’s head coach Hadi Rezaei told Olympics.com last week.
‘He’s going to lie on the floor. 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.’
Mehrzad’s situation has hit the headlines across the globe over recent days, with Paralympic organisers facing heavy criticism for failing to adequately prepare for the athlete’s arrival.
But in a statement today, organisers told CNN Sport that the ‘matter has now been resolved’ at long last.
‘The beds in the Paralympic Village are modular in design,’ the IPC told the publication.
‘The Paris 2024 team received a request from the Iranian NPC and responded by providing two extensions to the standard bed.
‘No further request was made to Paris 2024 by the Iranian NPC, but the two extensions were not sufficient. Additional extensions have now been made available.’
Iran have claimed gold in seven of their nine appearances in the Paralympics’ sitting volleyball competition, dating back to the Seoul Games in 1988.
According to Iran boss Razaei, Mehrzad’s story should be a source of inspiration around the world and proof that untapped ‘potential’ is out there, waiting to be discovered.
‘Morteza can be considered the best player on our team,’ he said.
‘As a matter of fact, if you go back to Morteza when he was 12 years old, no one had any consideration for him, but when he became a sitting volleyball player, everyone, all around the world know him and respect him.
‘I would like to give you one sentence – I believe that each person has got potential in the world and we have to discover it.’
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