America Reclaims the hotdog title!

[CaptainChewbacca]

Link

San Jose college student shatters hot-dog eating contest
Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, June 2, 2007

San Jose college student Joey Chestnut shattered the world record for hot dog eating today in Arizona, downing 59 1/2 franks and buns in 12 minutes flat.

The old record was 53 3/4 set at last year's Coney Island championship on July 4 by Chestnut's hot dog-eating nemesis Takeru Kobayashi -- a six-time world champion.

On that day, Chestnut fell short by one dog.

He has been training for a rematch ever since.

Chestnut's record-breaking win at a regional qualifier got him a seat at that rematch: Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

For Chestnut today, it was a hard-fought world record but an easy victory -- the guy who came in second ate 33 hot dogs with their white bread buns.

"I had been training for this contest for a little bit," Chestnut said in a phone interview from Arizona about five hours after the contest in Tempe.

For those unfamiliar with the world of competitive eating, that was an understatement.

Chestnut, 23, started training six weeks ago with what he calls a "hot dog run" two days per week. Each time he consumed as many hot dogs as possible in 12 minutes, doing his "weird" dance, flexing and wiggling to push the food down.

Then, he didn't eat for three days to prepare for the next time.

"You have to mentally have a reason to eat that much and maybe convince my body that it's OK it's not going to hurt it," he said.

One day each week he ate normally. He also took "tons of vitamins," amino acids and protein supplements.

Before today's contest, he didn't eat Thursday or Friday.

"It's crazy," he admitted. "I love to compete. I know it's what I have to do to be No. 1."

While he usually buys cheap dogs for the runs, he splurges on $55 worth of Nathan's hot dogs -- which are used in competitions -- before the events to get a taste for them.

His whole focus right now is "work and eating."

He is a project manager for a local construction company and a part-time civil engineering student at San Jose State University, with three semesters to go before graduation.

Chestnut compares himself to a well-trained athlete who knows his body and pushes it to its limits. He is 6'1'' and 220 pounds - usually.

He knew he could break the record. He'd done it in practice.

Yet, officially trouncing Kobayashi's measly 53 Â 3/4 was, well, fulfilling.

"I was super-excited," said Chestnut, literally 17 pounds heavier from the effort.

Immediately after the contest, he took a nap.

It's physically necessary, he said. The body needs every bit of energy to start digesting those 21,000 calories -- bread first, meat over the next couple of days.

"It was rough," he said tonight just before boarding a plane for New York. "They're all in there right now."

He won't eat again until "probably" Sunday night.

In the meantime, he's supposed to throw the first pitch out at the New York Mets baseball game Sunday -- a previously scheduled event that will be even better given the world record, Chestnut said.

Afterward, it's back to training.

He'll do another hot dog run on Wednesday.

After all, it's only four weeks until Coney Island.

With the world record under his belt, he worries that Japan's Kobayashi will only train harder now.

Chestnut wants the Mustard Belt that his opponent hoisted above his head on Independence Day last year.

He wants that glory.

"It's also the Fourth of July," he said. "So it's for America, too."

[Pelranius]

At last!

Any scientific basis for why the winners of these contests are usually physically fit?

[Cao Cao]

At last!

Any scientific basis for why the winners of these contests are usually physically fit?

Better stomach muscles?

[Alferd Packer]

It probably helps convince your body that it needs this ridiculous amount of food.

And man, I wouldn't want to be his roomate during these training sessions. Bowl-spanners and clogged toilets must be the order of the day after something like this.

[wilfulton]

At last!

Any scientific basis for why the winners of these contests are usually physically fit?

From the article, the man's training regime incorporates 2 days a week of stuffing away as many hot dogs as he can in 12 minutes, then not eating anything for the next couple days. One day a week he eats normally.

Possibly some of these people might also have an unusually high metabolism. Me personally, I would dare trying to eat that many hot dogs for fear I would need new clothes.

[Tribun]

I don't know.... But if this is considered a sport, we shouldn't wonder that obesity is a problem nowadays. And I'm still shocked that something like that is even anatomically possible.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The thing is, the guy is of healthy and normal size. He isn't obese.

[ArmorPierce]

Yeah actually since the japense guys came into the equation, the big obese guys have been pretty much wholly swetp away. One guy had a theory that less fat helped allow the stomach to expand unimpeded. For some reason it was laughed at but I don't see any other explanations.