Oren Smadja

Shay-Oren Smadja (Hebrew: אורן סמדג'ה‎, born June 20, 1970) is a former Israeli judoka and a judo coach. Smadja won the Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics, making him the first Israeli man to win an Olympic medal, and the second Israeli overall after Yael Arad won silver in judo the day before.[1]

Oren Smadja
Born (1970-06-20) June 20, 1970
Ofakim, Israel
Native nameאורן סמדג'ה‎
NationalityIsraeli
Notable studentsOr Sasson
Sagi Muki
Oren Smadja
Medal record
Men's judo
Representing  Israel
Olympic Games
1992 Barcelona 71 kg
World Championships
1995 Chiba 78 kg
European Judo Championships
1992 Paris 71 kg

He is of a Tunisian-Jewish descent.

Career

Smadga was born in Ofakim, Israel, to a Tunisian Jewish family. He won the Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics the under 71 category.[2] In 1995, he won a silver medal at the 1995 World Judo Championships. The next year, he could not repeat his Olympic success at the 1996 Summer Olympics.[3]

He was nominated the national coach of the Israeli men's judo team in 2010.

He coaches Israeli judokas Or Sasson, winner of the bronze medal in the 2016 summer olympics (men 100kg+), and of Sagi Muki, who won the gold medal at the 2015 European Games in judo in the under 73 category[4] and the gold medal at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo in the under 81 category.

Oren is the first ever Israeli who won an Olympic medal both as an athlete and as a coach.

Achievements
YearTournamentPlaceWeight class
1995World Judo Championships 2ndHalf middleweight (78 kg)
European Judo Championships 7thHalf middleweight (78 kg)
1992Olympic Games 3rdLightweight (71 kg)
European Judo Championships 3rdLightweight (71 kg)
1990World Judo Championships 2ndLightweight (71 kg)

See also

References
  1. "Sporting heroes for 60 years: No. 25 Oren Smadja". The Jerusalem Post. 10 April 2008.
  2. "Judo: Olympic Games: Men: -71 kg". Sports 123. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Shay-Oren Smadja". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
  4. "Israeli judoka wins silver medal at the European Championship". i24news.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.