London: Sultan Kosen was officially crowned as the world's tallest man after his Ukrainian rival dropped out of the running by refusing to be measured. Guinness World Records said that 8 foot 1 inch (2.47 meter), from the town of Mardin in eastern Turkey, is now officially the tallest man walking the planet.
Sultan Kösen (born 1983) is a Turkish farmer and the current record holder of the tallest living man in the world as recognised by Guinness World Records.
Records
Kösen's height was recorded at 2.47 m (8 ft 1.2 in) in his home country by Guinness World Records, overtaking former world record holder Bao Xishun who stands 2.36 m (7 ft 8.9 in) tall. Kösen is also the current Guinness World Record holder of 'largest hands', and 'largest feet', measuring 27.5 cm and 36.5 cm respectively.
Personal life
Born and raised near Mardin in Turkey, Kösen's growth as a child was normal until the age of ten when his growth accelerated rapidly. A pituitary tumour was diagnosed and his growth continued until the tumour was removed in 2008.
Kösen lives with his parents, three brothers and sister, who are all normal sized. Because of his extreme height he was never able to finish school but works occasionally as a farmer to support his family. He describes the advantages of being tall as seeing from great distance, being able to help out his family with domestic jobs such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains. He lists disadvantages as not being able to find clothes or shoes that fit or finding it extremely hard to fit into a regular size car.
Like most men in their twenties, Sultan enjoys such things as listening to music, playing computer games and watching movies. When asked what his hopes are after being officially given the title he said: "To travel and see the world and have a car that accommodates my size! My biggest dream though, is to get married and have children - I'm looking for love."
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