Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player
Zdeno Chára (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈzdenɔ ˈxaːra]; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals. Standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall, Chára is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname "Big Z". At 45 years of age, he is the oldest active player playing in any of the top five major professional sports leagues in North America (NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, or MLS).

Chára served as the Bruins' captain for all of his fourteen seasons with the franchise, from 2006 to 2020. He won the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman in 2009, becoming the first Slovak player to do so, and the second European player after Nicklas Lidström. In 2011, 2013 and 2019 Chára captained the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals. He is one of three European-born and raised captains to lead his team to the Stanley Cup championship (along with Nicklas Lidström and Alexander Ovechkin), and the first born and trained in the Eastern Bloc.Following the retirements of Bartolo Colon, Vince Carter, and Adam Vinatieri of the MLB, NBA, and NFL respectively, Chara, alongside fellow NHL veteran Joe Thornton, are the last active players of the four major North American sports leagues who played in their respective leagues in the 1990s, while Chara remains the earliest-drafted, having been selected in the third round of the 1996 draft.On February 24, 2022, Chára surpassed Chris Chelios's NHL record for most games played by a defenseman, with 1,652.