Unusual Sports
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Hot Dog Eating Competitions
Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest is held in Coney Island, New York on July 4th each year. The aim of the competition is to eat the most number of hot dogs in 12 minutes.
In recent years the competition has been dominated by Japanese competitors. Here is a list of past winners and their hot dog totals:
Year |
Winner |
Hot Dogs |
1984 |
Birgit Felden |
9 ½ |
1985 |
Oscar Rodriguez |
11 ¾ |
1986 |
Don Wolfman |
12 |
1987 |
Don Wolfman |
12 |
1988 |
Jay Green |
14 |
1989 |
Jay Green |
13 |
1990 |
Michael DeVito |
16 |
1991 |
Frank Dellarosa |
21 |
1992 |
Frank Dellarosa |
19 |
1993 |
Michael DeVito |
17 |
1994 |
Michael DeVito |
20 |
1995 |
Edward Krachie |
19 ½ |
1996 |
Edward Krachie |
22 |
1997 |
Hirofumi Nakajima |
24 |
1998 |
Hirofumi Nakajima |
19 |
1999 |
Steve Keiner |
21 ½ |
2000 |
Kazutoyo Arai |
25 1/8 |
2001 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
50 |
2002 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
50 ½ |
2003 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
44 ½ |
2004 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
53 ½ |
2005 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
49 |
2006 |
Takeru Kobayashi |
53 ¾ |
2007 |
Joey Chestnut |
66 |
Hot Dog eating Champion
At the 2004 World Hotdog Eating Championships on July 4th, Takeru Kobayashi, also known as "Food Fighter", or "Tsunami", gulped down 53½ hotdogs in just 12 minutes to set a new world record! That works out to more than one dog every 15 seconds. Again in 2006, Takeru broke his own World Record, with a fraction more shoved in, 53¾. He has now won the event every year since 2001.
What is more impressive, is that Takeru weighs only 131 pounds.
The prize for being the world champion, he is awarded a trophy,
the championship belt and most importantly a year's supply of hotdogs.
In 2007, Kobayashi lost the title in a tight competition to American Joey Chestnut. That ended Kobayashi's 6 year winning streak.
Related Pages
- more unusual eating competitions
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- videos of unusual sports
