Sultan Kösen

Sultan Kösen is a Turkish farmer of Kurdish descent, born in the village of Alibey in the Derik district of Mardin Province on 10 December 1982. He holds the Guinness World Record as the tallest living man: remeasured on 9 February 2011, he stands 251 cm, and he has the largest hands measured on a living person, at 28.5 cm. ^{1 2}

Kösen's exceptional growth resulted from gigantism and acromegaly caused by a tumour on his pituitary gland, which overproduces growth hormone. Because of his condition he uses crutches to walk; he was unable to complete his education because of his height and instead worked part-time as a farmer. ¹

From 2010 he received Gamma Knife treatment for the tumour at the University of Virginia Medical School, together with medication to control his growth-hormone levels, and in March 2012 it was confirmed that the treatment had halted his growth. ¹

On 25 August 2009 Guinness World Records measured his standing height at 246.4 cm in his home country, overtaking the former record holder Bao Xishun; on remeasurement in February 2011 he stood 251 cm, and his hands were remeasured and later recorded at 28.5 cm, the largest on a living person, with the second-largest feet measured. ¹

On 13 November 2014, as part of Guinness World Records Day, Kösen met Chandra Bahadur Dangi, the shortest man ever recorded, for the first time at an event in London; the difference between their heights was 196.4 cm. The same year he joined the Magic Circus of Samoa and performed in shows around the world. Earlier, in 2002–2003, he briefly played for the Galatasaray basketball club. In December 2022 he celebrated his fortieth birthday at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Orlando, Florida. ¹

Within the museum's restraint on private detail: Kösen married the Syrian-born Merve Dibo in October 2013, and the couple divorced in 2021; the article reports that a language barrier was among their problems, as he speaks Turkish and she spoke only Arabic. ¹

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