Steve Keiner
Steven (Steve) Keiner of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey was the 1999 winner of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, downing 20¼ hot dogs in 12 minutes.[1]
Keiner's victory was somewhat of an upset, as he had never participated in competitive eating before the qualifiers. Steve is one of only two non-Japanese victors of the contest since 1997. Steven Keiner and newly victorious Joey Chestnut are the two American's to hold the title since 1997. Keiner was unable to defend his title the following year, and lost to the Japanese competitive eater Kazutoyo Arai.
Though a Nathan's comeback is unlikely for Steve, the elder Keiner is not the only one with competitive eating aspirations. Steve's nephew Jason Keiner, a junior mini-marshmello eating champion in his home state of New Jersey (2001), has used the family legacy as a launching pad for a moderate level of success in unsanctioned international eating events. Jason's dominating victory at the Imitoto Celebration in Swaziland last December, is "only the beginning."</ref>
[edit] References
- ^ Mcfadden, Robert D. "Holiday Parades March By, But the Heat Is Just Settling In", The New York Times, July 5, 1999. Accessed December 20, 2007. "As a crowd wavering between nausea and fascination watched for 12 minutes, Steve Keiner, 50, of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., downed 20 and one-quarter hot dogs to defeat the reigning Hirofumi Nakajima, a 134-pound former noodle-eating champ from Japan, who managed only 19 franks."
Dlamini, Mphumi. "Umhlungu wins annual Imitoto Inyama eating contest, King turns away", The Swazi Times, December 4, 2010. Accessed July 16 , 2010. ", ...A crowd of weathered mkhulu, some old enough to have witnessed the first Imitoto celebration after Swazi independence, watched in stunned silence as a foreigner calling himself "Plump t'cook", but later identified as Jason Keiner of Lomahasha, became the first non-swazi to compete-in and win the contest in Malindza on Friday. ...and Swazi performer Hot Stix Mabuza, who was less than pleased with Keiner's victory. "How are we to compete with this man? He was asking to finish Mbongene's plate(second place finisher Mbongene Nhlabatsi), Mabuza said."... "this is only the beginning, Keiner said."
[edit] External links
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