About Takeru Kobayashi
Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (小林 尊, Kobayashi Takeru; born March 15, 1978) is a Japanese former competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", he is a six-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champion and widely credited with popularizing the sport. == Competition and records == Born in Nagano, Japan, he won the 2000 Japanese variety show TV Champion Gluttony Championship by eating 16 bowls of ramen in 1 hour in the final. Also competing in the popular TV show Food Battle Club, he went on to win the final round of several stages, besting his mentor and previous champion. This resulted in a frenzy of fame for him in Japan and Asia before he appeared in the United States. Kobayashi set his first world record in western culture in his rookie appearance on July 4, 2001, when he ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, almost doubling the previous record of 25+1⁄8. The record was so unexpected that the organizers ran out of signs indicating how many hot dogs Kobayashi had eaten and had to resort to handwritten signs. He would go on to break his own record three times in winning the contest 6 consecutive times (2001–2006). Kobayashi is known for having created the "Solomon Method" of separating the hot dog from the bun then breaking it in half, while eating the dogs, then dunking the buns in water to wash the dogs down quickly. As this method became the basis to the competition for all the competitors, it also became apparent amongst the eaters, that Kobayashi's main opponent would dunk their own buns into the water while dissolving them, allowing his opponent to cheat.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.