In celebration of GWR Day
2016, the title holders for Smallest married couple have travelled to
London this week to visit the London HQ of Guinness World Records.
Paulo
Gabriel da Silva Barros and Katyucia Lie Hoshino, both of Brazil, have
been verified at a combined height of just 181.41 cm (71.42 in), and
became world record holders back in September after tying the knot.
Paulo
(aged 31 and 90.28 cm (35.54 in) in height),and Katyucia, (28 and 91.13
cm (35.88 in) first met in 2006 through the now defunct social media
platform, Orkut.
'I found her very beautiful from the first moment I saw her,' he explains.
But Katyucia didn't reciprocate and at first blocked him on the instant messaging site, before Paulo eventually won her over.
They
would chat online regularly for a couple of years before first meeting
in person on 20 December 2008. They began dating on 29 December.
In
January 2012, Katyucia decided to move from her hometown of Londrina to
Paulo’s town, Itapeva. They did not need to live together long before
they knew they were meant to be together.
Paulo,
a civil servant for his local government, and Katyucia, beauty salon
owner, receive a lot of attention for their height, and not all of it is
good. They find that being together attracts more attention – but
equally, being together gives them greater strength in dealing with the
attention.
Paulo was unable to walk until the age
of 21. In an attempt to be more independent, he used a child’s tricycle
to aid his mobility in his late teens, and upgraded to a four-wheeler
when he turned 20.
Having
learned to walk and following the fitting of orthopaedic boots in 2008,
he vowed to never use a child’s bike again – he upgraded to a specially
fitted out car which he still drives today. His colleagues know him as
‘Paulinho Gigante’ – Giant Paulo.
Speaking
ahead of today’s celebrations on the international day of record
breaking, Katyucia said:
“We are so happy to be a part of Guinness World
Records Day and to have our unique record celebrated. We hope our new
record will encourage the world to look past the physical differences in
others and understand all people should be treated equally.”
“We
may be short but we have big hearts and lots of love for each other as
well as everybody in our lives. Our life isn’t without its challenges
but we are so happy we can tackle these challenges together.”
Check
out heartwarming video below, which sees the happy couple take part
in a fun “Mr & Mrs” style quiz as they are given a special tour
around our London office.
watch videos here:
source: guinnessworldrecords.com