'Be you': Canada's Greg Stewart still writing story as athlete at Paris Paralympics

Greg Stewart, the seven-foot-two Paralympic shot putter, wants to spread one message in Paris.

"Be you."

Stewart is unique — not only is he exceedingly tall, but he also weighs around 350 pounds.

As he speaks on the phone from the food hall in the Athletes' Village in Paris, he laments how some people always feel the need to comment on just how big he is.

Reilly remains the face of Stewart's WhatsApp profile.

"I've gotten it a few times," Stewart said. "I just need to get a shout out from him."

Perhaps a second straight gold medal could get it done. Stewart, who was born missing part of his left hand, took top spot in his F46 classification at Tokyo 2020 in his Paralympic debut, possibly helping to spark the throwing revolution which saw Canadians win both the men's and women's hammer throw at the Olympics.

The 38-year-old Victoria native retired shortly after Tokyo, but returned to the sport a year later.

He said his story as an athlete still felt incomplete. Perhaps the final chapter could arrive on Wednesday, when he competes in the F46 shot put final at 4:05 a.m. ET. Live coverage will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Paralympics app and CBC Gem.

"Whatever the experience is on [Wednesday], you'll be able to take a few things from that and be able to share about it. Our mental health matters, everyone matters and I just hope that one day we can all recognize that," Stewart said.

Stewart said he was unable to acknowledge that he was disabled until turning 25.

More than a gold medal, Stewart says he hopes to share his entire story in Paris: the ups, the downs and his feelings throughout all of it.

"I'm a person that is all about feels, you know, how does my body feel? What are my thoughts? What are the feelings