Nepali Man Officially Declared World’s Shortest

Public domain image by Amitkajitajhya.

Happy Birthday to the world’s new Shortest Man: Nepal’s Khagendra Thapa Magar, who was certified by officials from Guinness when he turned 18 years of age on October 14, 2010. Previously, he had been on the books as the world’s shortest teenager. Mr. Magar is a primordial dwarf, which means that all his body parts have been proportionately small, beginning before birth.

In case you’re in the running, getting certified as the world’s shortest man is not nearly as simple as you might think. According to the video bellow from Guinness, Mr. Magar was measured three times throughout the day — morning, noon, and night, since of course everyone kinda shrinks a little throughout the day. The average of the measurements is then taken. The final verdict? Mr. Magar is 2 feet, 2.5 inches tall, or 0.67 meters.

This puts him about an inch below the prior world record holder: Bogotá, Colombia’s Edward Niño Hernández, . Mr. Hernández was only certified by Guinness in early September of this year. The gentleman before him, China’s He Pingping, died in Rome in March, which meant that the world went almost six months without a Guinness-approved World’s Shortest Man.

In case you’re keeping track, the world’s shortest woman is still believed to be South Africa’s 47-year-old Madge Bester who is 2 feet, 1.5 inches tall, as certified by Guinness in 1991.

Check out the video of Mr. Magar being certified, below, complete with an interview with the cat from Guinness.

Incidentally, in completely unrelated world record news, an Owensboro, Kentucky man recently set a new world record for the most push-ups done while balancing on three medicine balls.

Huh?

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