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By Olena Horodetska, REUTERS
Podolyantsi, Ukraine, Thur, May 13, 2004
 PODOLYANTSI, Ukraine (Reuters) - All Leonid Stadnyk [Stadnik]
wants is a simple, quiet and inconspicuous life. But the 33-year old
Ukrainian is just too tall for that.
At a height of eight feet four inches, Stadnyk may be the world's tallest
man and he keeps on growing.
Measurements by the Ukrainian branch of the Guinness Book of World
Records show he is already taller than Tunisia's Radhouane Charbib, who
is listed by the book as the tallest living man.
The local and foreign press have descended on his village, making him a
minor celebrity. He gets paid for some of the interviews and has been
offered help in getting shoes and clothes that might fit him.
Stadnyk says his height has brought him little joy.
"For my entire life I wanted to be shorter. I was bowing down, stooping,"
Stadnyk said, sitting in his house in the tiny village of Podolyantsi in
central Ukraine. "I have always wanted to be in the shadows. I tried not to
stand out, but now..."
Stadnyk remembered happier times when he was about the same size as his
classmates in the village school, even a bit shorter. But then at the age of
14 he started growing rapidly.
At first nobody seemed to take much notice of the tall, awkward boy with a
shy smile. But then his first problems began.
"There were no shoes, no clothes for me in the shops. When I was undergoing
medical checks, they could not measure my height, the scale ran out. Then I
became self-conscious," he said, blaming a hormonal imbalance for his growth
despite never having proper medical tests to diagnose his condition.
Ordering made-to-measure clothes is not easy in former Soviet Ukraine, where
often a simple transaction can require dozens of documents. Money is scarce
after he had to quit his job as a veterinarian due to poor health.
He said his arms are very strong but complains his legs are getting weaker
under his weight of about 440 lbs.
"For my job, I had to travel seven kilometers (4 miles) every day. With my
height I could move only by horse, on a cart."
"It did not matter whether it was winter frost or summer heat, animals fell
ill and I had to go. I did not have proper shoes and my feet froze. I had to
stop working."
Now his mother is the breadwinner in the family, while Stadnyk stays at home
and takes care of the house, land and cattle.
The family house is crumbling. He walks cautiously with a bowed head to
avoid the ceiling. He curls in a small armchair with his knees nearly
reaching his chin. He sleeps on two beds.
Stadnyk gets a pension worth about $28 a month while needing at least $200
just to order a pair of shoes. They last about four months, he said.
Mother and son rely mostly on home-grown fruit and vegetables.
"Life is difficult. We are working, working very hard to earn our bread," he
says. "With every year it is getting more difficult. Years pass by, my
health gets weaker."
And he says he is lonely.
Stadnyk's village is isolated. Most youngsters have left to find work in
bigger cities. Houses cry out for a coat of paint and are circled by
half-broken fences.
He dismisses local media frenzy around him, saying he has no plans to
capitalize on his extreme size and move into show business. He wants to stay
near his mother, his best and only friend at the moment, and work in the
garden.
"I do not smoke, do not drink. Every penny I can save I spend on buying
seeds and seedlings. The garden is a place for me. Height doesn't matter
there."
Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk (L) talks to her mother Olena in the
yard of their house in the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region,
about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April 21, 2004. At a
height of 2.53 metres (8 feet 4 inches), the 33-year old Stadnyk may be the
world's tallest living man and he keeps on growing.
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Ukrainian Olena Stadnyk (L) measures the height of her son
Leonid in the yard of their house in the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's
Zhytomyr region, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April
21, 2004.
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Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk drinks water from a 3-liter jar in
the yard of his house in the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's Zhytomyr
region, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April 21, 2004. |
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Leonid Stadnyk touches a ceiling-lamp as he sits on a chair at
his house in the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region, about 200
km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April 21, 2004.
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Ukrainian Olena Stadnyk (L) measures the hand of her son Leonid
in the yard of their house, in the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's Zhytomyr
region, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April 21, 2004. |
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Ukrainian Olena Stadnyk shows giant footwear of her son
Leonid at their house inn the Podolyantsi village in Ukraine's Zhytomyr
region, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Kiev, on April 21, 2004. |
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The seven photographs were taken April 21, 2004.
REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/FEATURE/UKRAINE-TALLEST
By Olena Horodetska, Reuters, Podolyantsi, Ukraine, Thur, May 13, 2004
Photographs by Reuters photographer Gleb Garanich.
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC
USE ONLY |
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