Looks like we will miss Japan’s speed eater, Takeru Kobayashi, on this year’s Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York. The contest is on July 4.
Twenty nine-year-old Kobayashi, famous for wolfing down dozens of hotdogs in a couple minutes for the past 6 years, was recently diagnosed with jaw arthritis. The injury manifested a week before his training for Nathan’s eating contest.
He can only open his mouth with a gap the size of a fingertip.
On his blog, Kobayashi wrote about his condition:
I feel ashamed that I couldn’t notice the alarm bells set off by my own body. 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.
The hotdog-king set a world record last year at Nathan’s with 53¾ hot dogs in 12 minutes. He has been Nathan’s eating champ for 6 consecutive years:
2006: 53¾ hot dogs
2005: 49 hot dogs
2004: 53½ hot dogs
2003: 44½ hot dogs
2002: 50½ hot dogs
2001: 50 hot dogs
Over the years, Kobayashi has been undergoing rigorous physical training to expand his stomach and increase his metabolism. He is also known to have a condition called gastroptosis, an abnormal downward displacement of the stomach. His stomach allows him to ingest large amount of food.
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