400lb champion sumo wrestler becomes fattest person in history to complete a marathon (and only lost FOUR pounds)



Hero: Kelly Gneiting, aka the Fat Man, broke his previous record by over two hours

They said he had a fat chance of completing all 26 miles in record time.

But American sumo wrestler Kelly Gneiting has proved his critics wrong and has broken the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon.

Mr Gneiting – who calls himself the ‘Fat Man’ – weighed exactly 400lbs when he started the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday. By the end he weighed just 396.2lbs.



The six-foot former U.S. sumo champ beat back torrential rain before crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds - beating his 2008 record of 11:52:11when he weighed 275lbs.

After the race, a breathless Gneiting told the Los Angeles Times: 'I'd like to see the Kenyan improve his marathon time by two hours.'



Gneiting, of Fort Defiance, Arizona, jogged the first eight miles but was forced to walk the final 18, saying he didn't know where he was for most of the race after delirium set in.

He said he only realised he had hit the 15 mile mark when a friend met him to hand him a clean pair of socks.

He added: 'I was really struggling in the last five miles, but I said to myself, 'If I have to crawl, I will.''

The 40-year-old, from a Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona, was always confident about his chances.

He had earlier told the Los Angeles Times: 'I honestly think I am one of the best athletes in the world.



'I'll have something very few thin people out there can say about themselves; I'll have made a little history.'

Setting off: Kelly Gneiting sets off at a confident pace

The three-times national sumo wrestling champion insisted that ‘big people can do the imaginable'.



Gneiting said he was just 190 pounds in high school and 200 pounds in college.



‘I was fit then. Still am. The doctor says I've got good blood pressure. My resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute. I always have had one weakness: food,’ he told the Times.



He admitted packing on the pounds after getting married.



‘I married my wife at 205 pounds,’ he said, eating a fried chicken sandwich, a mushroom cheeseburger and a massive portion of French fries.

‘Suddenly, jeez, I didn't need to attract anyone. I just kind of let myself go,’ he added.

The father-of-five said he once downed eight Big Macs in one sitting.



But the former long-haul trucker said his size didn’t help his search for work.

‘I would apply to jobs and people would see me and it was like they were wondering, 'Do we really want this monster walking around the office all day?',‘ he said.



‘Some people were just really shallow. Here's an example. I was at a store and this guy right near me says to his friend: 'Look at how freakin' fat that guy is.' I'm like: "Dude, I am right here in front of you, c'mon.'

'When you're this size, it's strange, but it's like you can be invisible.

‘I just got to where it didn't matter to me what people think, I am going to live my life.'

Warm: Stretching before the race, Mr Gneiting gets ready to compete

Move: Gneiting, of Fort Defiance, Arizona, jogged the first eight miles but was forced to walk the final 18, saying he didn't know where he was for most of the race after delirium set in Now he is planning to follow up his marathon run by hiking from the Dead Sea to Mount Everest. He also said he wants to swim the English Channel because he says he floats like a cork.

‘In sumo, there's an advantage to being big, of course. That's when I actually made it over 400 pounds. My wife kept saying, 'Hey, being so big isn't healthy.''

'I think what she was really saying was, 'You are unattractive.' But we're still married, so maybe I'm not all that bad.'

In 2005, four years after his first sumo match, Mr Gneiting won a U.S. Sumo Federation title. He repeated in 2006 and again in 2007.

Determined: Gneiting jogged the first eight miles but wasforced to walk the final 18, saying he didn't know where he was for most of the race after delirium set in. He finished in 9hrs 48mins and 42secs

