Japan’s “Most Dominating Athlete" - Takeru Kobayashi, The Legendary Competitive Eater
Our stomachs are like fingerprints; no two people have the same stomach. Some of us are full after one hotdog, while others can eat a few.
More specifically, 50 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is the man behind this legendary accomplishment. In Japan, competitive eaters are called "food fighters". There have been a handful of food-fighting icons who have made a name for themselves, but none have made quite the impact as Takeru Kobayashi. Some even dub him the greatest athlete of all time.
In 2001, Kobayashi made his shocking debut at The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, the World Cup of competitive eating. Up until his debut, the record was 25 hotdogs eaten in the 12-minute [now 10-minute] time frame. However, Kobayashi shocked the world by doubling the previous record. The judges even ran out of number cards to show how many hot dogs he had eaten, and after his 25th, they had to resort to handwriting his record on paper.
After he took the world by storm, Kobayashi has broke dozens of world records, leading him to make the "10 most feared athletes" on FOX Sports alongside Mike Tyson and Roger Federer, and was named the "most dominating athlete" above Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth. In 2004, he made the "100 Most Respected Japanese People" list by Newsweek along with Emperor Meiji, Yoko Ono, and Ichiro, and in 2009, CNN nominated him for the "Asia's Greatest Sports Heroes" with Bruce Lee, Sadaharu Oh, and Yao Ming.
Up until 2006, Kobayashi kept dominating Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Contest. But in 2007, he was defeated by Joey Chestnut, the current #1 Major League Eater, after being diagnosed with jaw arthritis. This may have been his first human defeat in the States, but in 2003, he was also defeated by a giant 495kg Kodiak Bear in a contest as well [for obvious reasons].
By now you probably get why Kobayashi got his nickname "Tsunami". He is quite literally "the" food fighter.
