Guinness World Records Reinstates World’s Tallest Living Man!
NEW YORK and LONDON, (PRNewswire) — Guinness World Records announced today that China’s Bao Xi Shun (7 feet 8.95 inches) has recaptured the record as the world’s Tallest Living Man from Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk (8 feet 5.5 inch).
Craig Glenday, Editor-In-Chief of Guinness World Records renames China’s Bao Xi Shun as the world’s Tallest Living Man. (PRNewsFoto/Guinness World Records)
Guidelines for the title were amended earlier this year, in order to ensure the highest level of accuracy in determining this category. All contenders to the Tallest Living Man title must now be measured in person by an official Guinness World Records adjudicator. As a result, Xi Shun, who lost the recognition last year to Stadnyk, is re-crowned in the 2009 edition of the Guinness World Records book released worldwide on 17th September 2008.
Guinness World Records crowned Stadnyk the world’s Tallest Living Man based on a statement provided by his medical practitioner. However, the record was included in the 2008 book with a caveat stating that Stadnyk’s height had not been officially measured by Guinness World Records. The Tallest Living Man record is one of the most popular and longstanding titles in record-keeping history. The company decided to tighten its rules and stipulate that a doctor’s testimony no longer suffices as evidence for any “tallest” or “shortest” claim. After repeated requests to measure Stadnyk in person went unanswered, Guinness World Records returned the title to Xi Shun in compliance with its new regulations.
“We are the global authority on world records and our obligation is to provide the public with the most accurate information possible. According to our new guidelines, Leonid Stadnyk does not meet the criteria for the evidence required to support his claim, which is why we felt that it was only fair to rename Xi Shun, whom we have measured in person,” said Craig Glenday, Editor-In-Chief of Guinness World Records. “We still hope to hear from Stadnyk — and anyone else in the world for that matter — so we can travel to meet him and officially measure his height.”
After the recent death of Sandy Allen (US), who stood an impressive 7 feet 7 inches, the category for Tallest Living Female has been left pending. The Tallest Female Ever, Zeng Jinlian (China), stood an imposing 8 feet 1.5 inches tall. Robert Wadlow (US) holds the title as the Tallest Man Ever measuring in at an amazing 8 feet 11.1 inches tall.
He Ping Ping (China), the Smallest Living Man, is the first person to be ratified under the updated Guinness World Records’ rules when measured in March 2008 by Glenday in Beijing. Ping Ping will pay a first-ever visit to London and New York between the 13th and 20th of September 2008 in celebration of the 2009 Guinness World Records book launch.
Source: Guinness World Records
Related News: In memoriam - Sandy Allen (Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday pays tribute to the world’s tallest woman, who sadly passed away on August 13th.)
