{{short description|Soviet basketball player}} {{Infobox basketball biography | name = Alexander Sizonenko | image = Alexander Sizonenko.jpg | image_size = | caption = Sizonenko (right) and Georg Wessels | number = | position = Center | height_ft = 7 | height_in = 11 | weight_lbs = | league = | team = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1959|7|20}} | birth_place = Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2012|01|05|1959|07|20}} | death_place = Saint Petersburg, Russia | nationality = Ukrainian | high_school = | college = | career_start = 1976 | career_end = 1986 | years1 = 1976–1978 | team1 = Spartak Leningrad | years2 = 1979–1986 | team2 = Stroitel Kuybyshev | highlights = }}
'''Alexander Alekseyevich Sizonenko''' ({{langx|uk|Олександр Олексійович Сизоненко}}; {{langx|ru|Александр Алексеевич Сизоненко}}; 20 July 1959 – 5 January 2012) was a Soviet professional basketball player. Possibly the tallest person to have ever played professional basketball, he was measured by Guinness World Records at {{convert|2.39|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}} and named the world's tallest man in 1991. Sizonenko was said to have grown since this measurement was taken, although age reduced his standing height considerably. Because of his enormous growth, his mobility was increasingly impaired.
==Basketball career== Sizonenko played professionally for Spartak Leningrad (1976–1978) and for Stroitel Kuybyshev (1979–1986). Sizonenko was also a member of the Soviet national team and appeared on its behalf for 12 games. While playing, Sizonenko was listed as standing at {{convert|2.41|m|ftin|0|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aleksandr Sizonenko Basketball Player Profile |url=https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Aleksandr-Sizonenko/Russia/Ural-Great-Perm/74563 |website=EuroBasket |accessdate=7 September 2019}}</ref>
According to Viktor Petrakov, the 1977 European vice-champion, Sizonenko was a poor basketball player with weak functional abilities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Виктор Петраков — о самом высоком баскетболисте СССР: «Физика» нулевая. Сердце осталось на уровне 10-летнего ребёнка»|url=https://www.sport-express.ru/basketball/russia/news/viktor-petrakov-rasskazal-ob-aleksandre-sizonenko-samom-vysokom-basketboliste-sssr-2364316/|website=Спорт Экспресс|accessdate=3 September 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life== Sizonenko was born in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian SSR. He lived in Saint Petersburg, was divorced and had a son Alexander born in 1994. In the last years of his life, he faced multiple health issues. In 2011 he was moved to a hospital in St. Petersburg, where he died on 5 January 2012. He was 52.<ref name="Death">{{cite web|url=http://www.fontanka.ru/2012/01/05/034|title=В Петербурге скончался самый высокий человек в России, баскетболист Александр Сизоненко.|author=|date=2014-01-05|work=|publisher=Фонтанка.ру|access-date=2014-05-25|archive-date=2014-08-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826223015/http://www.fontanka.ru/2012/01/05/034/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20171020174847/http://www.thetallestman.com/alexandersizonenko.htm The Tallest Man: Alexander Sizonenko] * [http://www.klm-hannover.de/medien/z-980823.htm So lebt der längste Mensch der Welt, Jens Hartmann] {{in lang|de}} * {{IMDb name|0803487}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before = Zeng Jinlian | title = Tallest Recognized Person | years = 1991 | after = Parimal Barman }}? {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sizonenko, Alexander}} Category:1959 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Zaporizhzhia Category:People with gigantism Category:Soviet men's basketball players Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Ukrainian men's basketball players Category:People from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Category:20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen
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