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A Tsunami-Less Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Weigh-In
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 2, 2010
Modified Jul 3, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 2, 2010
Modified Jul 3, 2010
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Today, the contestants for Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest weighed in at City Hall. While Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, the reigning champ for three straight years, showed off his Mustard Belt, it wasn't the same without his archrival, Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi, the Japanese phenom who has won the contest six times. Kobayashi claimed that a contract dispute with contest organizers was keeping him out of the July 4th event, Mayor Bloomberg stepped into the fray, saying, "Well, you know what they say: If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen."
According to the Brooklyn Paper, Bloomberg's jab drew "gasps from the press corps." International Federation of Competitive Eating executive director George Shea said Kobayashi wants more money, "We have never stopped negotiating with Kobayashi to bring him here. We want him here. Nathan’s wants him here. The fans want him here. And he himself has said he wants to be here. So why won’t he work out [a contract] with us that will bring him here?"
As for Chestnut, he said, "I'm fasting hard, practicing hard, and recovering, paying attention to my body. I've been running more, trying to get a little bit healthier, but I love to eat, this is what I do." This from a man who won a Deep Fried Asparagus Contest. And on his website, Chestnut gave his thoughts about the Kobayashi Kontroversy:
"I am three days away from my biggest contest of the year and I was thrown a curve ball. Apparently kobayashi has not committed to competing on Sunday. I know iti shouldn’t let it affect my training and I’m not. Over and over I am being asked about koby and I give the same a answer… 'I don’t know if he is eating, but if he does I will be ready'… I respect koby’s ability, but I also know that he will do anything to win, including faking an injury. So I would not be surprised if koby showed at the last second in hopes of catching his competitors off guard. I am using the possibility of a koby sneak attack as motivation to push hard in the final stretch of training."
The contest is outside of Nathan's Famous at Surf Avenue in Coney Island on Sunday. Festivities start around 10:30 a.m., but ESPN starts the broadcast at noon. And Nathan's is donating 100,000 hot dogs to the Food Bank for New York City.
Tagged
Competitive Eating
hot dog
joey chestnut
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
takeru kobayashi
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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