Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi has jaw arthritis.

Japan's all-star speed eater suffers professional injury Mon Jun 25, 900 AM ET



TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man who set a world record by wolfing down dozens of hot dogs within minutes has suffered a severe jaw injury due to his rigorous training, making his next title uncertain.

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Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi said he can only open his mouth to make a gap the size of a fingertip after being diagnosed with jaw arthritis.

In an entry on his blog entitled "Occupational hazard," Kobayashi said "My jaw refused to fight any more."

The injury occurred only a week after the slender 29-year-old started training to win his seventh straight title at the annual July 4 Nathan's Famous hot dog eating event on New York's Coney Island.

"I feel ashamed that I couldn't notice the alarm bells set off by my own body," he said. "But with the goal to win another title with a new record, I couldn't stop my training so close to the competition.

"I was continuing my training and bearing with the pain but finally I destroyed my jaw."

Kobayashi, who has become a niche celebrity in Japan and the United States, had already halted his competitive eating activities for several months due to mourning after his mother's death earlier this year.

But he said he still wanted to go to the competition in New York.

"I want to be the pride of my mother," he said in the blog entry posted Sunday.

Last year, Kobayashi put down a world-record 53 and three-quarters hot dogs in just 12 minutes.

In addition to the Nathan's Famous titles, he holds world records for scoffing cows' brains and rice balls.

In 2004, he founded the United Food Fighters Organisation in hopes of making people take competitive eating seriously as a sport.

Despite Japanese people's reputation as moderate eaters, Kobayashi helped to turn competitive eating into a television sensation with "food fighters" downing everything from sushi to cakes.

But Japanese television began to shy away from such contests after a 14-year-old junior high school student choked to death in 2002 trying to imitate competitive eating during school lunch.

http//news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070625/lf_afp/lifestylejapanushealthfoodpeople_070625130041


Kinda sad. I cant even finish half a medium pizza so ive gotta give him props for all he did for competive eating

Watching grown men eat pounds of pure mayo and butter turns my stomach....

The hot dogs were alright, I do not think I could dip the bread into water and then eat it without gagging.

DUDE

this guy was ripped too!!!!

i cant believe he was eating all taht and not gain a single pound! or fat!

[quote3f8f721cba="puppeteer"]DUDE

this guy was ripped too!!!!

i cant believe he was eating all taht and not gain a single pound! or fat![/quote3f8f721cba]

theres a local champion here in Maryland and shes only 105 pounds. http//www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=59853
she ate 26 hotdogs in 12 minutes shock

why are you 3 days behind with your news......

Why do you continue to thread crap in every thread?

[quote6e4e97bfd5="TryinToGetPaid"]Why do you continue to thread crap in every thread?[/quote6e4e97bfd5]

every thread? thats a bit of a stretch wouldnt you say?

sorry for the thread crap continue 3 days old news discussion

Doesn't matter Joey Chestnut is the best! He broke the world record on June 2nd 2007 at the Nathan's qualifier with 59 1/2 hotdogs. He could beat Kobayashi anytime now.

[quoteb3465ba5db="good2speed"][quoteb3465ba5db="TryinToGetPaid"]Why do you continue to thread crap in every thread?[/quoteb3465ba5db]

every thread? thats a bit of a stretch wouldnt you say?

sorry for the thread crap continue 3 days old news discussion[/quoteb3465ba5db]

Quit starting flame wars. Your post had NO contribution to the thread.

[quote54714d4bba="hitnaui"]Doesn't matter Joey Chestnut is the best! He broke the world record on June 2nd 2007 at the Nathan's qualifier with 59 1/2 hotdogs. He could beat Kobayashi anytime now.[/quote54714d4bba]
Maybe now, but Kobayashi is the beast of them all, he destroyed Chestnut at the comp that I saw...Nobody was even within 10 dogs of.

There are some disciplines I see no benefit in honing. Eating is one of them.

I'm sure it takes considerable time and dedication, but I'll never respect speed eating as a sport, or even as a worthwhile past time.

[quote6b7fedd639="ilanbg"]There are some disciplines I see no benefit in honing. Eating is one of them.

I'm sure it takes considerable time and dedication, but I'll never respect speed eating as a sport, or even as a worthwhile past time.[/quote6b7fedd639]
Anything competitive is a sport in my eyes. It takes talent, dedication, and luck.

The fact that he's able to do this and stay as fit as he is, I believe he's somewhere around 5-12% body fat, is simply astonishing. It's not as rigorous as other sports, but it should deserve respect at the very least, if not honored as a sport.

I'm not saying it's not difficult, strenuous, etc.

But that's all it is. It's not competition to prove who has most developed an otherwise useful or applicable skill (e.g. martial arts), it's just competition for competition's sake.

I can't help but think about what a waste of food it is. shrug

yea, i saw this on espn the other day, they had all of the big game announcers talking about how he was just afraid of getting beat and faking his injury, it was quite funny...

on 2nd note these guys train their stomaches by eating tons and tons of spaghetti and then puke it up...

an ex girlfriend of mine once came down with jaw arthritis too.

ba-dum....ching!

thankyouandgoodnight

-dan

[quotead003364e1="tjwor"]yea, i saw this on espn the other day, they had all of the big game announcers talking about how he was just afraid of getting beat and faking his injury, it was quite funny...

on 2nd note these guys train their stomaches by eating tons and tons of spaghetti and then puke it up...[/quotead003364e1]

the acid from throwing up again and again would fuck up their teeth badly......
they stretch their stomach by drinking shitloads of water. Talking about things you know nothing about makes you look foolish ?

[quotef67f4b862c="DRay9911"]an ex girlfriend of mine once came down with jaw arthritis too.

ba-dum....ching!

thankyouandgoodnight

-dan[/quotef67f4b862c] lol you're funny

[quotec98797054f="JUNIOR6886"][quotec98797054f="tjwor"]yea, i saw this on espn the other day, they had all of the big game announcers talking about how he was just afraid of getting beat and faking his injury, it was quite funny...

on 2nd note these guys train their stomaches by eating tons and tons of spaghetti and then puke it up...[/quotec98797054f]

the acid from throwing up again and again would fuck up their teeth badly......
they stretch their stomach by drinking shitloads of water. Talking about things you know nothing about makes you look foolish ?[/quotec98797054f]

well i guess since you havn't heard of it it isn't true, i'm sorry roll


i watched a tv show on it once, and that is what it said some of them do, i'm not saying everyone who has done this "sport" does it, but it was said that that is how some of them train...

[quote0ff7aad725="tjwor"]
on 2nd note these guys train their stomaches by eating tons and tons of spaghetti and then puke it up...[/quote0ff7aad725]


[quote0ff7aad725="JUNIOR6886"]
they stretch their stomach by drinking shitloads of water. Talking about things you know nothing about makes you look foolish ?[/quote0ff7aad725]


Your both wrong, most eat lettuce to stretch the stomach, Kobayashi eats anything, but most american eating competitors eat lettuce. I is very filling, doesn't lose much mass and is high in water content. )

[quote19df056e82="2DollarDeal"][quote19df056e82="tjwor"]
on 2nd note these guys train their stomaches by eating tons and tons of spaghetti and then puke it up...[/quote19df056e82]


[quote19df056e82="JUNIOR6886"]
they stretch their stomach by drinking shitloads of water. Talking about things you know nothing about makes you look foolish ?[/quote19df056e82]


Your both wrong, most eat lettuce to stretch the stomach, Kobayashi eats anything, but most american eating competitors eat lettuce. I is very filling, doesn't lose much mass and is high in water content. )[/quote19df056e82]

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_eating
http//espn.go.com/page2/s/caple/020703.html
Kobayashi trains by eating cabbage AND drinking water

not that it really matters now. i think his career's over....

You're all wrong! I hear those guys train by swallowing balloons and then pumping their stomachs with air.

[quote406ffd6d63="ilanbg"]I'm not saying it's not difficult, strenuous, etc.

But that's all it is. It's not competition to prove who has most developed an otherwise useful or applicable skill (e.g. martial arts), it's just competition for competition's sake.[/quote406ffd6d63]
What if they fell in a large vat of lard and had no way of getting out except to eat shock

I guess calling it a competition or tournament alone and not a sport would work in my mind..

he will play.

http//www.kansascity.com/sports/story/172446.html

visions of Willis Reed/Serena Williams returning from injury to gut out a win.

NEW YORK - In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged Wednesday as the world's hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in a rousing yet repulsive triumph.

Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes _ a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.

"If I needed to eat another one right now, I could," the 23-year-old Californian said after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot dog eating supremacy.

Kobayashi, the Japanese eating machine, recently had a wisdom tooth extracted and received chiropractic treatment due to a sore jaw. But the winner of every Nathan's hot dog competition from 2001 to 2006 showed no ill effects as he stayed with Chestnut frank-for-frank until the very end of the 12-minute competition.

Kobayashi finished with 63 HDBs _ hot dogs and buns eaten _ in his best performance ever. His previous high in the annual competition was 53 1/2. The all-time record before Wednesday's remarkable contest was Chestnut's 59 1/2, set just last month.

The two gustatory gladiators quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the 17 competitors, processing more beef than a slaughterhouse within the first few minutes. The two had each downed 60 hot dogs with 60 seconds to go when Chestnut _ the veins on his forehead extended _ put away the final franks to end Kobayashi's reign.




considering what kobayashi's gone through he did great. No shame in his loss at all.

The mustard belt is back in America thanks to Joey Chestnut!!!! And 66 hotdogs is a crazy amount in 12 minuets. I want to know how many it will be next year.

66 hot dogs...what the fuck?

I saw a small clip on TV of this guy shoving some hotdogs in his mouth then just SPEWING water everywhere! How can you do that and not just puke!? I wanna barf just thinking about it.

I can eat, like 2. And even still sometimes the bun gets caught in my throat, but of course I do not dip mine in water....

[quote4bf2b4c823="hitnaui"]The mustard belt is back in America thanks to Joey Chestnut!!!! And 66 hotdogs is a crazy amount in 12 minuets. I want to know how many it will be next year.[/quote4bf2b4c823]
He did damn good, I got to give it too him. Kobayashi was still amazing though, considering what's been going on and to still be neck and neck. Will see once he recovers more.

This sport is the epitome of conspicuous consumption. It's sickening.

He should have received double credit for the last two hoit dogs. He ate them twice!

I personally can say I feel for the guy, as I have this as well, its not fun stuff kiddos and will severely hurt this guys chances ever again from competitive eating. I wouldn't wish this problem on anyone.