Last week, 26-year old Sultan Kosen was officially crowned 'The World's Tallest Man', taking over the title from China's Bao Xishun, who has held it intermittently since August 2005.

Measuring in at a height of 8ft-1inch Kosen 'towers' over Bao's 7ft-9inch frame. The Turkish youngster who grew up in the town of Mardin in Southeast Turkey started to tower over his school friends just after he turned ten. Similar to the 'growth' spurts of his other extremely tall cohorts , his too was caused by a larger than normal production of a growth hormone. He had to go through several surgeries before he finally stopped growing last year.

With feet measuring 14.4 inches long and hands spanning 10.8 inches, Sultan suffers from the same issues as his peers - a shortage of clothes and friends - especially girls, who he claims are afraid of his overpowering height.

However, the gentle giant does admit that there are some advantages to being this tall too. For one, he is always the center or attraction. Also he doesn't need to use ladders to change the curtains or light bulbs around his house.

While Sultan is the official tallest living person in the world, it is believed that Leonard Stadnik, a Ukrainian who supposedly measures 8ft 5inches is taller than him. However, Leonard has steadfastly refused to be measured by the folks at Guinness Book of Records. He says he doesn't like the fame and the hoopla that comes with the title.

But Sultan doesn't seem to mind all the attention. He is enjoying his newly found fame and says it has made him more outgoing and confident of himself.

To view articles about the previous tallest men and women check out - Life is tough for the world's tallest man, bao xishun is the world's tallest man again and world's smallest man meets woman with the world's-tallest legs

sources:dailynews.co.uk, wikipedia.org.