Crazy Legs Conti
{{short description|American competitive eater|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Crazy Legs Conti
| image = File:Crazy Legs Conti.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Crazy Legs Conti at a 2007 french fry eating competition
| headercolor =
| textcolor =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = John Conti
| fullname =
| nickname = Crazy Legs
| nationality = American
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1974}}
| birth_place = Belmont, Massachusetts
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| monuments =
| residence =
| education =
| alma_mater = Johns Hopkins University
| occupation =
| years_active =
| employer =
| agent =
| height =
| weight =
| spouse =
| life_partner =
| other_interests =
| website =
| module =
| country =
| sport = Competitive eating
| position =
| disability =
| disability_class =
| rank =
| event =
| collegeteam =
| universityteam =
| league =
| league_type =
| club =
| team =
| turnedpro =
| partner =
| former_partner =
| coach =
| retired =
| coaching =
| module2 =
}}
Crazy Legs Conti (formerly known as John Conti or Jason Conti, prior to a legal name change{{Cite web | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/is-competitive-eating-a-sport/372172/ |title = Is Competitive Eating a Sport?| website=The Atlantic |date = 2014-06-09}}) is an American competitive eater. In 2011, he was ranked 21st in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.{{cite web|title=Eater Profiles|url=http://www.ifoce.com/rankings.php|work=ifoce.com|publisher=International Federation of Competitive Eating|accessdate=27 January 2011}}
Early life and education
Conti was raised in Belmont, Massachusetts.{{cite news|title=Eat Up|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=22 February 2005|first1=Mark |last1=Shanahan|first2= Carol |last2=Beggy| url= http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2005/02/22/it_adds_up_for_aerosmith_behold_the_somerville_gates/|accessdate=23 February 2010}} He attended Johns Hopkins University.{{cite news|title=An Elite Eater|url=http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/0905web/glutton2.html#record|accessdate=23 February 2010| newspaper=Johns Hopkins Magazine|date=September 2005| author=MB}} He was a three-sport athlete for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, playing basketball, football ("third string punter"), and on the track team he competed in high jump ("but I never quite got high enough to qualify").{{cite interview| title= Crazy Legs Conti| first= John "Crazy Legs"| last= Conti| interviewer= Jessica Coogan| website= NewYorkCool.com| date=2004 }}
Other careers
In addition to competitive eating, he has had a variety of jobs including purchasing agent for a steakhouse restaurant, screenwriter, bouncer, nude model, and window washer. Conti has appeared as a commentator for MLE Chowdown on Spike TV. He appeared once on the Discovery Channel's Cash Cab program with Tim Janus who won $1600 total by answering the bonus question.
Competitive eating
Conti counts Eric Booker as an early inspiration to begin competitive eating. He won his first competition in New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend 2002 by eating over 400 oysters.{{cite news|title=Crazy Legs ready to put the bite on chowing record|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-95114581.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104083835/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-95114581.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2012| accessdate= 23 February 2010|newspaper=The Boston Herald|date=9 December 2002|author=Laura Raposa|author2= Gayle Fee}} He has held several world records, including the green bean and buffet food categories.{{cite web| title= Records| url=http://www.ifoce.com/records.php| work= ifoce.com| publisher= International Federation of Competitive Eating|accessdate=23 February 2010}}
Conti trains by eating six hot dogs at a time as fast as possible and has studied video of Takeru Kobayashi in order to improve his technique. He also runs and goes to the gym three times a week to avoid gaining excess weight. This led him to compete in several marathons.
He claims that his motivation in competing is the joy of winning, rather than prize money.{{cite news|last=Wolf|first=Buck|title=Crazy Legs' Crowned Cannoli King|url=http://www.aolnews.com/story/crazy-legs-conti-crowned-little-italy/666129|accessdate=23 February 2010|newspaper=AOL News|date=10 September 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In addition to his successes, he is known to be magnanimous in defeat.{{cite news|last=Groves|first=Steve|title=Crazy Legs has no need to eat his words when it comes to losing|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-152190754|accessdate=23 February 2010|newspaper=Western Mail|date=2 October 2006|location=Cardiff, Wales}}
He is the subject of the 2004 competitive eating documentary film Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.
Other endeavors
Conti and his fellow Johns Hopkins alumnus Chris Russell produced a short film, "Dearly Beloved", which won the Gold Award for Best Short Film Comedy-Adaptation at the Houston International Film Festival in 1997.{{cite web| url= http://pages.jh.edu/~jhumag/0997web/alumnote.html |date= September 1997 | work= Johns Hopkins Magazine| publisher= Johns Hopkins University| editor-first=Julia |editor-last=Snyder |title= Alumni Notes| accessdate= 30 July 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://worldfest.org/remi-winners/ |title=REMI Winners: 1997 |accessdate=30 July 2015 |website=worldfest.org |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126003456/http://worldfest.org/remi-winners/ |archivedate=26 January 2016 }}
Conti has been involved in several other productions as assorted crew members; films include Mambo Café (2000) and The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999).{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
Conti appeared as an uncredited cameo in The Sopranos, in the episode "The Ride".
Conti's short film 'SOULFINGER vs GOLDFINGER screened at [http://www.aobff.org The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival] in 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@TheArtOfBklyn/announcing-the-official-selections-of-the-2017-art-of-brooklyn-film-festival-620948edb6f5|title=Announcing the Official Selections of the 2017 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival|last=Brooklyn|first=The Art of|date=2017-05-04|website=Medium|access-date=2017-06-26}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|qid=Q5183185|title=Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating}}
- [http://www.ifoce.com/rankings.php?action=detail&sn=10 Crazy Legs Conti Profile] at [http://www.ifoce.com/ Major League Eating]
{{Competitive eating}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conti, Crazy Legs}}
Category:American competitive eaters