'I'm the second tallest man alive and I was forced to sleep on floor at the Paralympics'

Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is so tall that when he arrived in Paris for the Paralympics, the Iranian sitting volleyball player learned he had no bed. For several days at the Games, the 8ft 1in giant slept on the floor.

Mehrzad, as his name is commonly shortened to, is the second tallest man in the world and in 2016, he became the tallest athlete to compete at the Paralympics. The 36-year-old competes as a Paralympian due to a cycling accident he suffered aged 13.

His pelvis fractured so severely that it limited the growth of his right leg. Due to his genetic condition, which is called acromegaly and is triggered by excessive growth hormone production in the brain’s pituitary gland, Mehrzad’s right leg grew six inches shorter than the left.

He uses a walking stick and sometimes a wheelchair. It was an accident that prompted depression, and he confined himself to his home for the best part of a decade.

However, he was spotted by his coach, Hadi Rezaei, who believed that his height could give him a supreme advantage as an athlete. His journey has taken him to three Paralympic Games, and the BBC reports that he has finally been sourced a bed big enough to sleep in. Not that it mattered, insists Rezaei.

“It doesn’t matter if he lies on the ground or if he doesn’t have enough to eat,” Rezaei explained to the Daily Telegraph. “He has the mind to become a champion.”

He continued in a separate interview with Olympics.com in Paris: “In Tokyo, yes, they have made a special bed, but unfortunately not here. 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, who is a two-time Paralympic gold medallist and a two-time world champion, is described as being extremely shy, feelings brought on by his condition and the fact people would stare at him in public.

“I believe that Morteza has spent 11 years in his room, in his house, without going out," Rezaei added. "Because he is the tallest man, when he wanted to leave the home and come outside, unfortunately, he was not satisfied because so many people [stared at] him. But nowadays all people are going to look at him as a champion.”

But Mehrzad has been extremely successful since making his Iran debut in 2016. “Sitting volleyball allowed me to affirm my personality,” he has previously said. “Today, I read pride in people’s eyes. Some do not know that I am disabled. Before discovering this sport, I was a person known only for my height.

“Everything has changed for me since then, financially, socially. It has changed my life so much that I can’t imagine life without it. I can never thank Mr Hadi enough. If he hadn’t believed in me, I wouldn’t be here today.”

It remains to be seen if he can achieve a third Paralympic gold medal.