Never borrow another ladder- ever!
Imagine never having to borrow your neighbor's ladder, always being able to see the stage no matter where you're seated, and being able to sink a basket just by simply raising your arm. It takes a lot of height to make Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming look short, but these skyscraping folks do it. Prepare to meet the tallest men and women on the planet.
Leonid Stadnik
At 8 feet 5 inches, Leonid Stadnik of the Ukraine beat out Bao Xishun in August 2007 for the title of "World's Tallest Man" - by a whopping margin of eight inches. (As a point of reference, Leonid is roughly a foot and a half taller than the late Andre the Giant. Inconceivable!) According to the Associated Press, Stadnik, 37, underwent a brain operation at age 14, which affected his pituitary gland and resulted in a dramatic growth spurt.
Though he has everyone in the world looking up to him (literally), SteveQuayle.com reports that life has been hard on the 440-pound Stadnik. "My two-year-old suit's sleeves and pants are now 30 centimeters (12 inches) shorter than I need," Stadnik told the AP. "My height is God's punishment. My life has no sense. Taking a public bus for me is the same as getting into a car's trunk for a normal person."
Bao Xishun
The 7'9" tall Bao Xishun proved that he's a gentle giant when he rescued two dolphins at a Chinese aquarium by using his long arms to pull out pieces of plastic that they had ingested. The herdsman from Inner Mongolia also made headlines for getting hitched in March 2007 to a woman who is 25 years younger and two-thirds his height, BBC News reports. Hey, opposites attract. The article also states that Bao was average height until the age of 16, when he experienced an unusual growth spurt which lasted seven years
Yao Defen
Yao Defen's website, YaoDefenAppeal.com, which raises money to treat her condition, lists her height as 7'8", making her arguably the world's tallest woman, though there has been some dispute between her and Sandy Allen. Hailing from China, the 34-year-old Yao attributes her height to acromegaly, a condition resulting from a tumor on the pituitary gland. A onetime circus performer, Yao has battled a number of health problems and is hoping to get surgery to remove her tumor. "Defen would happily swap the title and a good two foot [sic] to be average height and live a normal life," her site claims.
Radhouane Charbib
Wikipedia reports that Tunisian Radhouane Charbib was edged out as the "World's Tallest Man" by a measly two millimeters (now-dethroned Bao Xishun was the usurper, in 2005). Tough break. The 38-year-old Charbib measures just under 7'9".
Robert Pershing Wadlow
As tall as Leonid Stadnik and Bao Xishun are, they don't even come close to breaking the record set by Robert Pershing Wadlow, who died in 1940. Measuring a whopping 8 feet and 11 inches and weighing 490 pounds at his death, Illinois native Wadlow still holds the record for being the tallest person in the world ever. The Alton Museum of History and Art (located in Wadlow's hometown, where a statue of him can be found) claims that he was 6'2" and weighed 195 pounds by age eight (gulp); this abnormal height has been attributed to an overactive pituitary gland. Incidentally, Wadlow also holds the record as the tallest Boy Scout in history.
In order to fit inside the family car, Wadlow had to remove the front seat and sit in the back. He wore a size 37 shoe and used, the museum reports, three times the amount of cloth required for an average man.
Wadlow died at the age of 32 after suffering an infection caused by blisters on his feet.