These Larger Than Life Athletes are Unbelievable

Why do we work out? Some of us just want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Others - because it feels good, and others yet, for the challenge. But for professional athletes, being at the top of their game means continually pushing the envelope when it comes to the question of what it even means to be human. Some take themselves to their very limits through sheer determination, while others have been born with bodies that already push the limit of "normal" - whether it's an especially tall frame or a physique that seems almost adapted to moving through water. Whether the result of hard work or simply genetics, we've compiled a list of some of the biggest, baddest athletes out there that we guarantee will get you motivated to head to the gym.

Lisa Leslie

Lisa Leslie is possibly one of the all-time greatest players to grace the courts of the Women's National Basketball Association. At 6'5", Leslie is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. At the end of the 2009 season, Leslie announced her retirement from the WNBA, and since then she has become an important personality in sports reporting and coverage, operating out of Fox Sports Florida.

Mariusz Pudzianowski

Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski may not be the biggest guy out there, compared to some of the other athletes we've looked at. He stands at a tall - but not astounding - 6'1", and weighs around 300 lbs. And while that's not small by any means, he's far from being a "giant." Still, don't let the numbers fool you. You can find Pudzianowski in the Guinness Book of World Records, thanks to his having won five World's Strongest Man titles - more than any other athlete in history. Following his success as a strongman, Puzianowski decided to turn to MMA - where he currently boasts an impressive 12-4 record.

John Isner

John Isner, who is 6'10", has learned how to make every inch of his long frame count on the tennis court. After turning pro in 2007, Isner went on to enjoy a tremendously successful career. Since 2010, he's one won at least one title every year (2016 aside). Known for his extremely fast serve, he's broken the Association of Tennis Professionals' (ATP) record of fasted serve ever recorded with a stunning 157.2 mph hit.

Loek Van Mil

The 7'1" Loek Van Mil's full name is almost as long as he is tall: Ludovicus Jacobus Maria Van Mil. The Dutch pitcher never made it into the US Major Leagues, but stayed in the Double-A and Triple-A during his time playing in the United States. Still, despite not making it to the very top, seeing him pitch was truly an impressive feat to witness. Outside of the States, Van Mil played in various leagues in Japan, the Netherlands and Australia, as well as in the 2007 World Baseball Classic. He was slated to represent his country in the 2008 Olympics, but had to cancel his appearance due to an injury.

Yao Ming

Yao Ming is probably the most famous basketball player of Chinese descent in the world today. The 7'6" goliath was selected No. 1 overall by the Houston Rockets, and went on to be an All-Star in eight of his nine NBA seasons, before complications with ankle and foot injuries forced him to retire early. In addition to his phenomenal basketball career, Ming can also boast internet fame thanks to the insane popularity of an internet meme associated with a stylized version of his face.

Ivo Karlovic

Ivo Karlovic is widely considered to be one of Croatia's national treasures. The talented tennis player measures 6'11", and his serves are notorious for their strength and speed. Karlovic holds the second highest recorded serve in ATP history, coming in at 156 miles per hour, and his highest ranking was number 14 in the ATP's world rankings. His height gives him a distinct advantage in the sport, and seeing him tower above the nets, brandishing his racquet, is truly a sight to behold.

Brittney Griner

Brittney Griner is the only NCAA basketball player to score 2,000 points and block 500 shots, and was named AP Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 2012. Standing at 6'9", Griner, who wears a men's US size 17 shoe and has an arm span of 88 inches, has played for the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team in the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she earned a gold medal after beating Spain 101-72.

John Scott

Hockey players are some of the biggest, baddest looking athletes out there - but standing next to the NHL's John Scott, most of them still look like kids. Standing at 6'8", Scott is the ideal enforcer on the rink. He had no trouble knocking other players around at will, and lends his team a strong edge.

Dalip Singh Rana

Dalip Singh Rana is probably best known to professional wrestling fans as The Great Khali. Standing at 7'1", Rana truly is Great, and has been named the WWE World Heavyweight champion in 2007, a single year after signing on with the WWE - the first Indian wrestler to do so. Since then, he's also crossed over to other forms of entertainment, appearing in television and film - most notably alongside Adam Sandler in The Longest Yard.

Blanka Vlasic

In order to properly execute a high jump in the Olympic track events, your entire body needs to be perfectly tuned and working in sync. Your arms, legs, back and head all need to work in unison and in perfect timing in order to clear the bar - and the longer your arms and legs are, the harder it is to make sure everything is in place. So for Blanka Vlasic from Croatia, who stands at 6'3", the challenge is especially difficult. Still, Vlasic is one of the most accomplished and successful high jumpers in the world, having won medals at two separate Olympic Games competitions - once in 2008 and once in 2016, as well as winning several gold medals in the World Championships and World Indoor Championships.

Jon Rauch

Different positions in baseball require different physical skills - and it seems like pitchers, for some reason, are always exceptionally tall. Take Jon Rauch, for instance. At 6'11", he stands just two inches shorter than Shaquille O'Neal, making him the tallest Major League Baseball player in history - and his curveballs are reputed to be nothing short of vicious.

Zdeno Chara

As we transition from full on contact sports like boxing and wrestling, let's take a look at one team sport that is, by some accounts, organized brawling with knives tied to participants' feet. That's right: we're talking about hockey. Hockey players are notorious for the violence they inflict on each other, and the sport can get extremely physical and confrontational. Because of this, it's no surprise that players might think twice about entering the rink when Zdeno Chara is playing. At 6'9", Chara dominates the rink, but it's more than just his height that gives him a distinct edge. At an unbelievable 108.8 mph, Chara's slapshot is the fastest and hardest in the National Hockey League.

Manute Bol

The NBA is fertile ground for tall athletes, but even among the National Basketball Association's Nephilim, Manute Bol stood out. Standing at 7'7", Bol seemed like he was walking on stilts. A shot-blocking specialist, Bol blocked over 2,000 shots during his career. In addition to his prolific basketball career, Bol was also known for his political activism. Sadly, the basketball great passed away in 2010, at the age of 47, due to kidney failure.

Holley Mangold

Holley Mangold, born on December 22, 1989, began weightlifting at the age of 19 in 2008 - and by 2012 was a member of the US Olympic Team, competing in the superheavyweight division of the Olympic weightlifting competition. At 5'8", Holley weighs around 415 lbs. Despite entering the weightlifting game only after high school, she's always been physically active, having played high school football, and attended Ursuline College on a track scholarship.

Dekoda Watson

Dekoda Watson of the San Francisco 49ers is one of modern football's greatest linebackers. Standing at 6'2", and weighing 245 lbs., Watson is definitely not someone we'd hurry to tackle in our spare time. Playing for Florida State before he was drafted in 2010 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2010, Watson is a rising star - and definitely an NFL player to keep your eyes on.

Margo Dydek

Margo Dydek isn't just tall - although her towering 7'2" frame is nothing to be scoffed at. She is also one of the most talented female basketball players of all time. Selected by the Utah Starzz as No. 1 overall in the 1998 WNBA draft, Dydek played until 2008. Despite being out of the game for over 11 years, she still holds the WNBA's all-time blocks record; 877. Back in her native Poland, Dydek is nothing short of a star, and has even been awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit.

Christian McCaffrey

Christian McCaffrey may be young, but he's one of the most promising athletes in the NFL today, already holding the record for most receptions by a running back, with 107 receptions under his belt. McCaffrey continues to train today, and his ability to break tackles has been widely applauded by many commentators. “It’s not like I’ve found some secret sauce that’s going to make me break tackles," he told Bill Voth of the Panthers. "It’s really just continuing to train and continue to get better in every area and eventually that stuff will come. It’s nothing I haven’t been doing. It’s just continuing to work.”

Danny Jones

Now, let’s move on to some of the more recent athletes. This next one has gained fame through social media and he’s referred to as “The Fearsome Tree Man.” Why does he go by this name? Well, it’s actually not as cool as you’d think. After a Twitter user saw a picture of the 6’7, 225 pound man holding a personal trainer certification, he compared his body-type to gigantic tree. “This [is] not a man, this [is] a tree,” the Twitter user added. One things for sure, Danny Jones isn’t complaining about his recent publicity.

Nataliya Kuznetsova

Born in 1991, this Russian professional bodybuilder holds the world arm lifting, bench press, and deadlift titles, as well as the European bench press and deadlift titles. Nataliya Kuznetsova started powerlifting when she was 14-years-old in an attempt to gain muscle mass. While she may be only 5'7", this athlete can bench press 385 lb. (175 kg) and Deadlift 529 lb. (240 kg). Kuznetsova is married to Vladislav Kuznetsov and lives in Moscow.

Stefan Struve

The Dutch have a reputation for height, and Stefan Jaimy Struve is no exception. At 7'0" and 265 lbs., Struve is a hulking competitor in the tough UFC MMA championship, and ranked as the tallest fighter on the roster. Boasting an impressive 29-11 record, Struve is considered a powerful, skilled fighter, and despite his relatively young age is considered to be one of the most serious contenders on the league.

Kerri Walsh Jennings

Moving on to another woman’s volleyball player, but this one is an American beach volleyball player. Kerri Walsh Jennigs happens to be one of the tallest volleyball players of all time! It’s should come as no surprise that the 6’3 Jennings was an athlete in high school, she was on the basketball and volleyball teams. While we know her as one of the most successful beach volleyball players, she was also a great basketball player and she was the #1 volleyball recruit in the nation during her senior year. It was in high school that she met her future doubles partner Misty May Treanor, who she competed against. The two went on to become known as one of the best teams in the history of AVP. We can’t even begin to list all of Jennings accomplishments which include three gold and one bronze Olympic golf medal and a record win streak of 112 consecutive matches and 19 straight tournaments.

Eddy Curry

When the 7'0" Eddy Curry was drafted into the NBA in 2001, he weighed 285 lbs. Since then, the talented basketball player has played for four different teams, including the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. Sadly, over his 11-year career at the NBA, Curry ran into some pretty serious health issues - but despite gaining a lot of weight as a result, he continued to be one of the NBA's best scoring players.

Andy Fordham

Unlike the majority of people on this list, Andy Fordham isn’t known for his impressive muscles or hulk-like stature. Which is totally fine because he’s a professional darts player. Typically, professional dart players don’t need to be in tip-top shape or have access to the best gyms or trainers. All you need to be successful is a sense of accuracy and skill, which is exactly what Fordham has. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for dart champion Fordham who at the height of his career weighed in at 445 pounds and when he competed against the other world champion, Phil Taylor, he had to withdraw from the match due to health reasons. This was the first of many health scares and Fordham decided to take back his life by losing almost half his body weight. Now that’s impressive!

Paul Wight

Paul “Big Show” Wight is one of the WWE's most popular wrestlers, having joined the pro wrestling circuit in 1995 and winning the world championships seven times. At 7'0" and 383 lbs., Big Show's name almost does him a disservice; he should probably be called "Huge Show!" With his popularity skyrocketing thanks to his bigger than life persona, Paul Wight has since turned to the entertainment industry, where he's landed several acting roles in television and movies, including classic comedies like Jingle All the Way and The Waterboy.

William “The Refrigerator” Perry

Anyone who follows NFL history will be familiar with this next athlete: William "The Refrigerator" Perry, also affectionally called "the Fridge." Perry is considered to be one of football's all-time greats, and his imposing stature had a lot to do with it. Just how big was the Fridge? Well, the average ring size for a Super Bowl ring is 9-10. When a ring was made for Perry, it was sized at 25.

Nate Newton

Nate Newton isn't the largest or heaviest person in the NFL, but the Dallas Cowboys offensive guard is still nothing short of a beast. Standing at 6'3" and weighing 335 lbs., Newton would keep rival defenders occupied while his quarterback would make his way through the opposing team's defenses. His work was a huge part of making Emmitt Smith one of the NFL's all-time leaders in rushing yards. Over the course of his career, Newton has earned six Pro Bowl selections and won three rings, making him one of the NFL's all-time greats.

Phil Blackmar

When you think of sports in which height gives a competitor an edge, golf is probably not the first discipline that comes to mind. In fact, it's believed that the wear and tear involved in the golfing is actually more severe on larger bodies - but that hasn't stopped the 6'7" Phil Blackmar from spending 15 years on the PGA Tour. Considered, for a long time, to be one of the tallest golfers in history, he's been surpassed by Craig Smith, who is, at least unofficially, an inch taller.

Shawn Bradley

Shawn Bradley isn't the tallest NBA player of all time, but that doesn't mean that at 7'6", he isn't immense. Bradley was one of the most iconic centers in the NBA during the '90s and early '00s, and was one of the best shot blockers in NBA history, ranking at 14th of all time - just above Manute Bol. Getting past him was considered a challenge - which made many players try to do just that, even when it wasn't absolutely necessary.

John Daly

No list of larger-than-life athletes would be complete without John Daly. Sure, Daly may not be the tallest or buffest professional sports personality out there, but he has enough raw talent and skill to make up for any lack in physical fitness. In an interview with Ewan Murray for the The Guardian, Murray wrote that “He still smokes – to the tune of 40-a-day – but his infamous Diet Coke fondness has been toned down a little." Daly himself elaborated by saying that "I used to have 26-28 cans a day. Now I have 10-12 at the most."

Gheorghe Muresan

Gheorghe Muresan is tied with Manute Bol as the tallest player in NBA history. Muresan towered above the competition, coming in at 7'7". The Romanian giant lead the league in field goal percentage in both 1996 and 1997, and earned the title of Most Improved Player in 1996, but sadly, injuries cut his career short. Thanks to his height, Muresan was able to land several roles in film and television. He appeared opposite Billy Crystal in My Giant, and also made an appearance in Eminem's music video for "My Name Is." Any list of his TV appearances wouldn't be complete, however, without mentioning his classic bit with a pinata in the "This is SportsCenter" ad on ESPN.

Sharran Alexander

Some people have a natural affinity for a certain sport, and no matter their life circumstances, eventually find their way to it. Take Sharran Alexander, for instance. At 6'0" and 448 lbs., no opponent in the Dohyō stands a chance against her - even though she first started practicing the sport in 2006… at the age of 41. Since then she's represented the UK in the World Sumo Championships in Japan, as well as in 25 other competitions - and hold the Guinness Record for heaviest sportswoman in 2013.

Laura Dijkema

When you’re a woman who’s 6ft tall, becoming an athlete is pretty much in your blood. But, just because you’re tall, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be good at sports. Laura Dijkema definitely stands out of from the rest of her volleyball teammates and compared to them she looks like a giant. She worked hard to become the amazing volleyball player she has come to be today. Not only has she represented the Netherlands at the international level, winning three medals over the course of two years along the way, she was awarded the awarded the 2017 European Championship “Best Setter.” These medals included the 2015 Montreux Volley Masters, the 2015 CEV European Championship, and the 2016 FIVB World Grand Prix.

Choi Hong-man

While most sports usually dictate a need for a specific body type at professional levels, the world of kickboxing and mixed martial arts is notable for its diversity in shapes and sizes - and in bringing people of radically different statures into the ring together. But while there are all types of physiques in this field, Korea's Cho Hong-man, a professional kickboxer, MMA fighter and practitioner of the ancient Korean martial art of Ssireum, still stands out when he enters the ring. Hong-man, also known as the "Korean Colossus" and "Techno Goliath," stands at a height of 7'2" and weighs anywhere between 310-365 lb., making him a difficult adversary for any contender.

Maria Sharapova

Talking about tall tennis players without mentioning the 6'2" Maria Sharapova, who's been ranked at world No. 1 in singles by the WTA on five separate occasions, would be nothing short of negligence. Sharapova is an Olympic medalist and one of only ten women to hold the Career Grand Slam. Sharapova is also exceptional in the length of her career; she's managed to win at least one single title each year between 2003 and 2015 - a streak only surpassed by Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert.

John Krahn

Despite being 7"0', and weighing around 400 lbs., the 21-year-old John Krahn is extremely agile and athletic. When he was just 17 years old, back in 2015, he was already being referred to as the "biggest man in football," and it seems his career is only expected to shine brighter as he continues to train and perform at college.

Peter Crouch

In some sports, like basketball for instance, being tall gives you a distinct advantage. But in sports like soccer - or, as the Brits call it; football - being tall can actually make it more difficult to excel. The heart has to pump more blood to greater distances as the players spend 90 minutes or more running around the field, and the taller you are, the harder the cardiovascular system has to work. Still, Peter Crouch's height (6'7") hasn't kept him from becoming one of the best football players in the British Premier League, having played for teams like Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Stoke City, as well as represent his country in two World Cups in 2006 and 2010.

Randy Johnson

Over his 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, Randy David Johnson has earned the nickname "The Big Unit" thanks to his towering 6'8" frame. Playing between 1988 and 2009 for six teams, the legendary pitcher has 303 career victories, and is ranked fifth-most by a left hander in MLB history. One of the tallest players ever in the Major Leagues, Randy Johnson is celebrated as having one of the most dominant fastballs in baseball.

Mohammad Irfan

Cricket isn't exactly known for the height of its players, so the height of Pakistani left arm fast bowler, Mohammad Irfan, makes him stand out that much more above his teammates. Irfan is 7'1", which makes him the tallest player in the world to play first class and international cricket. Irfan's height and dexterity have made him an exceptionally difficult adversary for opponents on the field, and he's something of a national hero in his home country of Pakistan.

Greg Kovacs

Canadian IFBB professional bodybuilder Greg Kovacs sadly passed away in 2013 at the young age of 45. Kovacs wasn't always planning to become a bodybuilder and actually studied electrical engineering for one year in college. According to Muscle Insider, his height was 6'4" and he had an off-season weight of 420 pounds and Contest weight was 330 pounds. His arms measured 25 inches, his chest 70 inches, and his legs 35 inches. He retired in 2005 to start a business.

Andre The Giant

Andre was one of professional wrestling's biggest icons, and was a fan favorite over his decades of work in the field. What qualifies Andre for the "Giant" title? Well, let's take a look at him here, standing next to Hulk Hogan. Hogan stood at an impressive 6'7" - but Andre towered above him at 7'4", and could easily overpower him, considering he weighed 520 lb. Andre's stature was due to a medical condition called acromegaly. Because of complications with his condition, Andre sadly passed away at the young age of 46 - but during his life he managed to touch millions, both through his work at the WWF, as well as in film, where he is best remembered for his role at the kind, gentle giant Fezzin in The Princess Bride. In 2018, HBO released a Documentry film about the life of Andre the Giant to rave reviews.