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THE world's greatest athlete is back, and he's going for history.

I'm talking, of course, of Takeru Kobayashi. On Friday, this diminutive Japanese phenom will seize the Holy
 Grail of sport: the first- ever "three-peat" at the Nathan's hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.

How can I be so sure?

Kobayashi burst onto the scene on July 4, 2001 by downing 50 hot dogs and buns in a mere 12 minutes.

In doing so, he doubled (doubled!) a world record that many frankophiles thought could never be broken. And
 last year, the 5-foot-7, 131-pound speed-eater did it again - going a half-dog further!

"Last year's repeat shut up the dim-witted detractors of denigration," said George Shea, president of the
 International Federation of Competitive Eating, the sport's governing body.

"Now pretty much everyone acknowledges that Takeru Kobayashi is the greatest athlete on the planet."

Indeed: 50 1/2 hot dogs and buns! That's not just Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont by 31 lengths - it's
 Secretariat winning the Belmont and then taking another lap before anyone else finishes.

The Belmont metaphor is fitting. Earlier this summer, at that hallowed horseman's paradise, Eric "Badlands"
 Booker qualified for Friday's competition by eating 30 dogs and buns. Booker's been a rising star for years,
 and many believe that this is his year.

Such people are no doubt recalling 1999, when a newcomer named Steve "Ralph" Keiner beat then world
 record-holder (and two-time Coney legend) Hirofumi Nakajima and interrupted - for one year - Japanese
 domination of the sport. But Keiner's personal best going into the July 4 contest was just four dogs shy of
 Nakajima, not the yawning 20 1/2-dog gap between Kobayashi and Booker.

Notoriously large ex-football star William "the Refrigerator" Perry is a darkhorse entry, but he only downed a
 dozen dogs in the recent qualifying round.

Can Booker upset Kobayashi? Yes. Will he? Independence Day will be Eric Booker Day only if Kobayashi falters. I
 mean really falters. OK, I mean gets kidnapped by aliens midway through the contest. The only person who can
 beat Kobayashi is Kobayashi himself.

"Booker's best hope is that Kobayashi is so intent on pushing himself for a new record that he overstuffs
 himself and experiences reflexes contrary to swallowing," Shea said.

"Koby is the kind of athlete who won't just cruise for a three-peat. He wants 60. That's not hubris, it's his
 mandate as the world's greatest athlete. He knows he has to do this for the fans."

Prediction: He will.

--30--


gersh.kuntzman@verizon.net