Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi Suffers Sports Injury

Professional Eater Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi has injured his jaw while training in his sport, an accident which seriously hinders his ability to compete. Yahoo News reports that Kobayashi has jaw arthritis and can only open his mouth the width of a fingertip, an insufficient size for eating hot dogs.

Kobayashi held the world record for hot dog eating, a sport at which no human being could defeat him until 2003 when he faced off against a bear and lost as the “Alaskan Crucher” devoured 50 hot dogs in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. After losing this match he claimed he would train hard and face off against the bear again and win, something which at this point may never happen.

The bear still appears to be in proper health to compete.

Check out this entry on Kobayashi’s blog for more on his injury… if you can read Japanese.

Watch Kobayashi vs. the Beast after the jump.