World Record Speed Eater has Jaw Arthritis

A Japanese man who set a world record by wolfing down dozens of hot dogs within minutes has suffered a severe jaw injury due to his rigorous training, making his next title uncertain.

Takeru �Tsunami� Kobayashi said he can only open his mouth to make a gap the size of a fingertip after being diagnosed with jaw arthritis.

In an entry on his blog entitled �Occupational hazard,� Kobayashi said: �My jaw refused to fight any more.�

The injury occurred only a week after the slender 29-year-old started training to win his seventh straight title at the annual July 4 Nathan�s Famous hot dog eating event on New York�s Coney Island.

�I feel ashamed that I couldn�t notice the alarm bells set off by my own body,� he said. �But with the goal to win another title with a new record, I couldn�t stop my training so close to the competition.

�I was continuing my training and bearing with the pain but finally I destroyed my jaw.�

Kobayashi, who has become a niche celebrity in Japan and the United States, had already halted his competitive eating activities for several months due to mourning after his mother�s death earlier this year.

But he said he still wanted to go to the competition in New York.

�I want to be the pride of my mother,� he said in the blog entry posted Sunday.

Last year, Kobayashi put down a world-record 53 and three-quarters hot dogs in just 12 minutes.

In addition to the Nathan�s Famous titles, he holds world records for scoffing cows� brains and rice balls.

In 2004, he founded the United Food Fighters Organisation in hopes of making people take competitive eating seriously as a sport.

Despite Japanese people�s reputation as moderate eaters, Kobayashi helped to turn competitive eating into a television sensation with �food fighters� downing everything from sushi to cakes.

But Japanese television began to shy away from such contests after a 14-year-old junior high school student choked to death in 2002 trying to imitate competitive eating during school lunch.