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Taller, shorter, hairier
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 (CDT) by Thoth
 China is today gloating over another world record that places it firmly in the big league .... or tall league, to be exact.
If the avalanche of Olympic gold medals weren't enough, the front page of today's official English-language China Daily trumpets the news that Inner Mongolian goat herder Bao Xishun has regained the title as the world's tallest living man after the holder of the record, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, refused to submit to an official measurement.
Guinness World Records (GWR) released a statement overnight announcing that Bao - who measures 2.36 metres (7 feet 9.5 inches) - won on a technicality after Stadnyk refused to submit to being measured by GWR officials. Stadnyk, who lives with his mother in central Ukraine, is more than 20cm (8 inches) taller than Bao at 2.57 metres (8 feet 5.5 inches), according to a statement from his doctor tendered last year.
It was on
that basis that the Ukrainian was listed in the 2008 edition of the
Guinness Book of Records. The 2009 edition of the famous record book,
however, will hand the honour back to Bao.
While Bao enjoys the
publicity that comes with his fame, Stadnyk regards it as a burden.
"The world is built for medium-sized people," he told the Reuters news
agency.
Bao often makes celebrity
appearances and in 2006 he was hailed as a hero after he used his long
arm to reach down the throats of two dolphins to remove plastic bags
they had swallowed.
Last year Bao married a 1.68 metre-tall (5 feet 6 inches) woman and the couple are expecting their first child later this year.
What was not mentioned in
today's China Daily story, however, is that - according to the Guinness
Book of Records - China is also home to the world's shortest man.
He Ping Ping, who measures
74.61cm (2 foot 5.37 inches) under the new guidelines, will be also
included in the 2009 edition of the book.
China just falls short of
being able to claim a unique trifecta. Yu Zhenhuan, who suffers from a
condition known as hypertrichosis (also called Werewolf Syndrome) and
has 96 per cent of his body covered in hair, was listed as the world's
hairiest man in the 2002 Guinness Book of Records.
But the current record
holders are two Mexican brothers, Victor and Gabriel Ramos Gomez, who
have 98 per cent of their bodies covered in hair. It is unclear whether
GWR has taken updated readings of the contenders in this division for
the new edition of the book.
Yu, who calls himself "King
Kong", last year launched an unsuccessful campaign to become a torch
bearer in the Olympic Torch relay.
Copyright: The Sydney Morning Herald
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