As I chrono'd earlier, hotdog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi chose to compete despite injuring his jaw. Yesterday, the results were announced. Even with this injury, the 6 time champion still managed to improve on last year's performance (54) by 9 hotdogs. However, it seems that he has finally met his match in upstart San Jose student Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, who dominated the competition by eating 66 hotdogs!
Ahh Kobayashi. I hope he makes it back on top next year, but somehow I doubt it. For all his training, he's only 5'6", and Joey is 6'1". Now that Joey has found a way to surpass Kobes, it becomes a simple issue of volume. (Remember the Pee contest?) Ahh well, I'll always respect him as the guy who elevated competitive eating onto the world stage. And how? By using science. Before him, the champion eater was typically just the fattest guy with the biggest appetite. Kobayashi (along with 100 lb Sonya Thomas, seen in the vid below) showed that the best eaters train just as hard as athletes in any other sport. Their extremely low body fat (fat binds the stomach like a belt) coupled with finely honed eating techniques showed what amateurs the rest of the playing field was. Kobayashi Takeru, I salute you.
