Here is the inspiring tale of a very tall Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters who has made incredible long-term progress despite physical limitations such as pectus excavatum (A congenital deformity of the anterior wall of the chest that produces a caved-in or sunken appearance.)
Richters isn’t just your common bodybuilder. He towers over everyone and is quickly making his mark in the Bodybuilding and acting community with his latest achievements.
Olivier Richters was born with Pectus Excavatum, which is a “deformity of the anterior wall of the chest” that results in a couple ribs and sternum to grow abnormally. Essentially the defect causes the bones to grow in a way where they squeeze the HEART muscle, according to the doctor he saw. Upon seeing a doctor and going through a CT-Scan, they figured out that his heart was already 20% smaller than it should be.
Here are some pictures of how the chest was forming before the procedure:
The procedure included breaking the ribs along with a lengthy 6-month recovery process and pretty much being on morphine for the first couple months and dealing with the side effects. The good part about this procedure was that he was still young enough to regain the growth in his heart and lungs, which would in turn length his life span.
Olivier was born in 1989 and started bodybuilding in 2007, his Progress has been rather impressive since his procedure:
See how he looks after his unbelievable transformation…
According to the discussion on bodybuilding.com forums, his recovery was slow “he couldn’t even move for the first 2 months while being on morphine.”
Its not until the 3rd month that he started to walk again and ride a bicycle and swim.
In the 4th month after his procedure, he finally started weight lifting again and the rest was history. With his current height at 7′ 2″ and trying to get up to 330 LBS!
Check out these pictures of him pretty much Dwarfing every top Bodybuilder & Strongman out there, including Phil Heath, Jay Cutler, Ronnie Coleman, Rich Piana, Big Ramy and the notable mention ‘The Mountain’ Hafþór Björnsson
Phil Heath & Olivier Richters
