Judo legend Toshihiko Koga, dies at 53

Toshihiko Koga, a Japanese Olympic judo champion at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, died Wednesday at his home in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, people close to him said. He was 53.

The three-time Olympian had been temporarily hospitalized in the spring of last year due to kidney cancer and underwent surgery. He did not publicize his illness and closed the dojo "Koga Juku" that he runs.

Koga was scheduled to take part in the Tokyo Olympic torch relay in May in his native prefecture of Saga, southwestern Japan. The relay kicks off Thursday in Fukushima Prefecture in the country's northeast.

Having missed the podium in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Koga won the gold medal in the men's U71kg category at the Barcelona Games, despite a left leg injury, and the silver in the U78kg class at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. In total he was a three-time Olympian (Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996). He was also three times world champion (Belgrade 1989, Barcelona 1991 and Chiba 1995).

Koga had a signature ippon-seoi-nage, his morote-seoi-nage with one hand and his sode-tsuri-komi-goshi with the reverse entry. Many athletes took his innovations into their style of judo.

After retiring as a competitor, Koga served as a coach for the women's national judo team.

He also coached the women's judo team at International Pacific University in Okayama, western Japan, from 2007, making it one of the strongest clubs in the country.