Poor Kobayashi
The reign of Japan’s king of speed eating, the munch master Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi, is all but over, his all-devouring dominance undone by an arthritic jaw.
OMG what?! This is indeed shocking news. I feel like it was only weeks ago that Bunky and I watched him compete in a hot dog eating contest against a large bear (the bear won pretty easily).
Yet in an emotional entry on his blog, Mr Kobayashi revealed that his rigorous training regime, which involves stretching his stomach with large quantities of cabbage and water, had left his mouth all but paralysed.
He will still enter next week’s competition, however, viewing the physical pain of eating as “meaningless” compared with his grief at losing his mother this year. “My jaw has given up the fight,” he wrote, adding that the arthritis was so bad that he could only open his mouth wide enough to form “a gap the size of a fingertip”.
Wow that sucks so bad, as it was really his livelihood and obviously something he took great pride and pleasure in. I wonder if he had his mouth and stomach insured, since I know famous people often insure body parts that make them famous.
With the annual July 4th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest fast approaching, this is disappointing news. I guess this hot rising star Joey Chestnut may be the new favorite, but to think that you can get a major sports injury from competitive eating is (while not unexpected) jarring.
Elsewhere Online | Kabitzin 6/27/2007
