Kobayashi Tastes Defeat
BY HEATHER HARLAN
SPECIAL TO THE RAFU
Saturday, July 7, 2007

Despite besting the previous record, the Japanese eating machine loses the championship– and more–in the July 4 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Associated Press
Takeru Kobayashi, left, and Joey Chestnut eat hot dogs during Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition in New York on Wednesday. In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged this afternoon as the world’s hot dog eating champion by gobbling down a record 66 franks. The California knocked off six-time titlist Takeru Kobayashi in a rousing yet repulsive triumph at Coney Island.

CONEY ISLAND, New York.–Hobbled by a reportedly sore jaw, reigning world hot dog-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi lost his crown to an American challenger at Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating
Contest.

Joey Chestnut swallowed the title along with a record 66 wieners and buns, bringing the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt trophy back to the U.S. for the first time since 1999.

The jaw-dropping upset marked the end of a six-year winning streak for the Japanese eating phenomenon. Kobayashi lost his title–and some of his lunch too–managing to suck in 63 wieners and buns before suffering what is politely called in the field of competitive eating a “reversal of fortune” just after the end of the 12-minute race.

But Kobayashi managed to cup his hands over his mouth to prevent most of the “effluvia,” as it is called, from escaping.

Chestnut, a 23-year-old speed eater from San Jose, was widely considered a favorite after breaking Kobayashi’s previous record of 53 ¾ dogs and buns, eating 59 1/2 at a qualifying round in Phoenix last month.

Rookie Patrick Bertoletti, 21, of Chicago, whose specialty is pizza and
corn-beef races, finished a distant third with 49. He reportedly dedicated his effort to Nicky Hilton, because she is constantly in the shadow of her older sister, Paris.

The contest kicked off at noon on the Coney Island boardwalk on an unusually chilly 69-degree day under an ominous overcast sky that seemed to foretell the doom that was about to descend on Kobayashi.

Chestnut took the lead early, gobbling 10 hot dogs in the first minute alone. From then on, the two gustatory gladiators battled bite for bite in a match so close, at the end it wasn’t immediately clear who had won. Several minutes later, after the judges determined the final totals by counting the remaining hot dogs on the table, it was announced that Chestnut was the new top dog.

A chant of “USA, USA” spread throughout the throngs of spectators as sparkling confetti rained down on the stage and Chestnut held up an American flag.

“It’s too bad,” said Shoji Sasaki of Japan, as he watched with disappointment. “Hopefully he’ll win next time.”

Kobayashi, whose jaw was still recovering from a recent wisdom tooth extraction, said after the contest he was uncertain until the last minute if he would even be able to compete.

“I didn’t feel pain, but my jaw wasn’t really moving,” he said. The 28-year old vowed to be back next year.

“I tried not to think about him and just did what I had to do and I came out strong,” Chestnut told reporters as he relished his victory.

Asked when he would have his next hot dog, Chestnut said, “I could eat one right now if I had to.”

The cool weather seemed to draw even more spectators than usual to the annual event, a Brooklyn tradition dating to 1916. Viewers jammed the streets down every direction of the intersection of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, site of the original Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog stand.

Contest organizer George Shea, estimated the crowd at 50,000.

In the wake of the London bombing attempts, security was tight, with police officers stationed on nearby rooftops, around the stage and on street corners. Two NYPD helicopters noisily circled low overhead, at times drowning out the contest announcer.

The event drew tourists, local residents as well as vegetarian and antiobesity protesters. A woman on stilts in a red-white and blue sequined dress and a person in a French’s mustard bottle costume wandered through the crowd, happily posing for pictures.

“It’s a little nutty, but it’s exciting,” said Christina Chen, a native New Yorker as she watched the contest with her friend Asuka Fu, who moved to New York from L.A. “And it’s as New York as you can get.”