Chestnut vs. other GOATs
Competitive eating is typically an individual sport, with just one person against the competition.
Chestnut has won the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest 15 of the past 16 years, and seven years consecutively. Chestnut is ruling his sport in an era where he compares pretty favorably to champions in other individual sports:
Rafael Nadal: In 18 years, from 2005 to '22, he won 14 French Open titles.
Kelly Slater: He had 11 World Surf League crowns from 1994 to 2011.
Martina Navratilova: From 1978 to 1990, she won nine Wimbledon singles titles, including six in a row from 1982 to '87.
Tiger Woods: Won at least one major championship in every year except two (2003, 2004) from 1997 to 2008. That included the "Tiger Slam" from 2000 to '01 where he held all four major titles at one time.
In team sports, the championship leaders in the four majors are: Bill Russell (NBA) and Henri Richard (NHL), with 11, Yogi Berra (MLB) with 10 and Tom Brady (NFL) with seven.