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Richard Proud’s matchstick dreams have been rekindled.
Earlier this week, the French athlete was told that his 23-foot-tall Eiffel Tower model, which took eight years and was made from 700,000 matchsticks, could not officially be considered a world record because he used the wrong matches. I was shocked.
But the Guinness World Records Association announced Friday that it had changed its mind and deemed his attempt valid and within regulations.
The tallest matchstick sculpture on the Guinness website states: “The tallest matchstick sculpture is 7.18 meters (23 feet 6 inches) and was created in Saugeon, Charente-Maritime, France, on January 7, 2024. Achieved by Richard Proud (France).
The company told NBC News on Wednesday that it was reviewing its decision following an initial ruling that Proud used a type of matchstick that was not commercially available.
Mark McKinley, director of central records services at Guinness World Records, said in a statement that after learning more about Proud’s technique and considering the model compared to similar efforts, “we were overbearing in applying the rules.” It seems so.” in this case. ”
“We are therefore very pleased to award Richard the Guinness World Records title. We have also corrected some inconsistencies in the rules, cutting and shaping matchsticks as modelers see fit. “Now we can organize things,” he said.
McKinley added that Guinness “regrets the pain this past 24 hours, which should have been a celebratory moment for Richard, has caused.”
Proud told Reuters the ordeal had been a “rollercoaster of emotions” but he never lost hope.
“For eight years, I always thought I was building the tallest matchstick structure,” he told the news agency.
When Mr Proud began his mammoth task in December 2015, he bought boxes of matches from a supermarket and manually removed the tiny bits of sulfur from each match.
He then struck a deal with the manufacturer to have headless matches sent to him directly, but Guinness initially considered this to be grounds for disqualification.
Proud’s story made headlines around the world earlier this week when he criticized Guinness’ decision on social media.
“It was my childhood dream to hold a world record. I always had it in the back of my mind,” Proud told Le Parisien in January.
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