On July 4, 2001, he ate 50 of them in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Coney Island eating challenge, shattering the previous record of 25. In 2002, he broke his own record by eating 50 and a half. This year, 2003, he won again by eating 44 and a half. Nobody else has come close to his record. But on Ananova, it states, "Takeru Kobayashi, from Nagano, beat last year's record of 50 by half a hot dog and bun."
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