Big and strong MDE center, Shaquille O’Neal admitted two things have scared him – Michael Jordan and sharks. Now the third one is added to the list. DJ Diesel was in Florida recently and he met a ‘Canadian legend’ who made him feel puny. Olivier Rioux is only 18, but he’s gained international notoriety for, well, growing. Towering at 7’9″, full eight inches over Shaq, this is Guinness’ reigning world’s tallest teen! And he’s picked on none other than the Big Aristotle.

Shaquille O’Neal spent the New Year in Florida where three of his six kids now reside and Myles was also performing. He performed at the Tampa Bay on December 31 and met several fans in the area. While there, he ran into the world’s tallest teen and turned it into a social media.

More than a week since the New Year, DJ Diesel shared a hilarious Instagram post on her alternate page. “Pick on someone your own size,” he captioned to him, picking on regular-sized Logan Bohbot, an artist manager part of his entourage. Shaq turns and ends up being face-to-chest with someone ‘his size.’

The guy who tossed Mt Mutombo like a sack of potatoes had to look up to make eye contact with Olivier Rioux, striking the Superman pose. Shaq was shaken!

This little Instagram stunt, of course, left Shaq’s fans in stitches and had the Canadians on Instagram hailing their very own young Superman.

Rioux is as old as Shaq’s youngest child, Me’Arah O’Neal. But the record holder has a lot more connections to the O’Neal fam that don’t end there. Nor is this run-in that much of a coincidence.

Shaq meets a ‘big’ fan

Born in Canada, Olivier Rioux grew up in a sports-inclined family. He’d lead the Canadian National team to bronze at the 2023 U18 FIBA AmeriCup while averaging 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, including 10 points vs. Venezuela and nine rebounds vs. Puerto Rico, and also played in the 2021 FIBA. But that’s not what Anne Gariepy and Jean-François Rioux’s son is famous for.

Rioux stood 6-foot-1 at age eight, 6-foot-11 by sixth grade, and crossed the 7-foot mark the summer before entering seventh grade. Guinness named him the world’s tallest teen, a title he still holds. O’Neal is one of the few people who can relate as he was also well over 6 feet when he was a teen and dominated LSU and the NBA as a 7’1″ center.

The former three-star prospect, Olivier Rioux, attends Florida and plays for the Gators men’s basketball team. Shaq’s daughter, Meezy is currently the star leading the Gator ladies in the SEC.

It’s not a shocker that Rioux plays center. But before he met Shaq, he was already following the big guy. He wears #32 at Florida after his NBA heroes Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal.

Now this teen is winning over the Internet for a whole other reason. He made Shaq look up!