Takeru Kobayashi is a competitive eater. Correction: he is THE competitive eater, the top dog, the one everyone is out to beat. He is the current holder of the world record in the sport’s most illustrious event, the hot dog eating contest, in which he has remained undefeated for 5 years straight.

But that’s not the point of this post.

In 2001, when he first won the contest with a staggering 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes, Kobayashi weighed a mere 131 pounds.

During the most recent contest, depending on which account you believe, Kobayashi weighed in at somewhere in the neighborhood of 144-150 pounds. Makes sense that a competitive eater would gain a little bit of weight in 5 years, considering the quantity of food he’s consuming.

Here’s a pic of Kobayashi in 2001.

Here’s a pic of him winning the 2005 contest.

Not too shabby, eh? He could probably win Bill Phillips’ Body For Life contest with results like that. Kobayashi revolutionized the competitive eating world in 2001 when he won, not just because of the amount of food he ate, but becuase of his emphasis on training and proper mental focus. Looks like eating mass quantities of food to stretch the stomach wasn’t the only “training” he was doing.

Good luck in 2006, Kobayashi - gambatte ne!!

It is highly likely that if you are not in or into bodybuilding, you have never heard of Gregg Valentino. Gregg Valentino holds the dubious distinction of being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest arms on record - and it is not likely that his record will ever be broken. You see, Gregg is juiced to the gills, and possesses 28-inch arms.

The body dysmorphia (bigorexia) this guy has is, as the Russian would say, “incredible.”

He’s been breaking into the mainstream of bodybuilding, but recently has been on late night talk shows, the Enquirer, and most recently, the Learning Channel, as part of a documentary, “The Man Whose Arms Exploded.” He currently writes a column for Muscular Development magazine, and is poised to release a new book.

It seems odd that such a freakish individual should achieve such notoriety in today’s society - but then again, maybe not. After all, we live in a culture of excess.

Interesting footnote: prior to steroids, Gregg seemed to possess great genetics for hypertrophy. You can see photos of his muscular development throughout the years here.

Lindsey Jacobellis loses the gold, thanks to a backside method air.

You know, I probably would’ve opted for a boned-out stalefish or an indy grab instead.

Oh well. At least she didn’t hurt her knee. It would’ve been nice to have captured another US gold medal.

Why?

Because I want to show my Olympic spirit and solidarity.

Because I’m delighted Hannah Teter and Shaun White won gold.

Because it’s wonderful to be alive.

Because it snowed 27 inches in NYC last weekend.

Because I don’t have any good pipe shots yet this season.

But mostly, because I love snowboarding, and I wished to share a little slice of that with you.

Above: It sure feels a lot higher than it looks.

One of the great things about being stuck in a remote place (in my case, Danby, VT) with nowhere to go is that you can get a lot of TV watching done. That the Olympics have been on is a plus. That men’s and women’s snowboarding halfpipe was one of the featured events during my stay is a major plus.

So we almost swept the medals again. I’m glad to see Shaun White and Hannah Teter win gold medals - I’ve liked them both tons more since their feature in the movie First Descent.

Shaun White is 19. Hannah Teter is 18.

Shaun White has already had arthoscopic knee surgery. Hannah Teter won gold despite suffering from knee pain (suspected meniscus tear). Gretchen Bleiler, who took the silver in women’s halfpipe, was sidelined much of 2003 after enduring ACL repair surgery.

Cost of admission, I guess. In competitive sports, at the elite level, “playing hurt” is almost a given. It is common for Olympic-level athletes to endure training schedules that leave them grossly overtrained; where a “workout” may last for hours, with multiple workouts throughout the course of a day. Even on their recovery days, athletes are actively doing something, whether it’s a light weight workout or yoga. One wonders if their performances could be improved simply by decreasing the volume of work they are asked to do.

At any rate, the Halfpipe events were pretty awesome to watch. Watching Mr. White hit back to back 10s and a 10-9 combo truly emphasizes the gap between the average Joe (or average Eugene) and a pro-level snowboarder. Certainly puts my backside 3s in perspective.

I’m inspired to try 540s now but I can’t even visualize myself successfully pulling one off. Yet.