was a Japanese

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

ka, 9th degree black belt and Olympic champion who competed in the -71 kg and -78 kg divisions. Koga is regarded as having perhaps the greatest

ippon seoi nage The is a throw in judo.Mifune, Kyuzo: ''The Canon of Judo'', Kodansha International Ltd. (Tokyo) 2004, , p. It is a variant of Seoi nage, and is one of the nineteen accepted techniques in Shinmeisho No Waza of Kodokan Judo. It is classified ...

ever. He died of cancer on March 24, 2021 at the age of 53.

Biography

Koga was born in

Kitashigeyasu, Saga was a town located in Miyaki District, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It was established as a village and was later upgraded to a town on April 1, 1965. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 11,419 and a Population density of 687.06 perso ...

, Japan. He began judo in elementary school. He traveled to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

during junior-high school to enter Kodogakusha, a judo school later attended by Olympic gold medalists

Hidehiko Yoshida is a Japanese gold-medalist judoka and retired mixed martial artist. He is a longtime veteran of Japan's PRIDE Fighting Championships, competing in the Middleweight (93kg) and Heavyweight divisions. He won gold at the 1992 Summer ...

and

Makoto Takimoto is a retired Japanese judoka and mixed martial artist from Nihon University. He won a gold medal at the Half Middleweight category of the 2000 Summer Olympics. __TOC__ Judo career Takimoto was relatively unknown entering the 2000 ...

. He continued his education at the

Nippon Sport Science University , abbreviated as , is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The precursor of the school was founded in 1893, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The school is known for the many famous athletes among its alumn ...

, and captured several awards including five consecutive championships at the Kodokan Cup and six consecutive championships at the

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. T ...

(all in the 71 kg division). He placed 3rd in the

1987 World Judo Championships The 1987 World Judo Championships were the 15th edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held in Essen, West Germany from November 19–22, 1987. Medal overview Men Women Medal table References External linksResults of the World ...

held in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and ...

, and was chosen to participate in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, where he lost in the 3rd round of the competition. Koga returned to the Olympics in 1992 after winning the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

and

1991 World Judo Championships The 1991 World Judo Championships were the 17th edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held in Barcelona, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , nation ...

, but seriously injured his left knee during a

randori is a term used in Japanese martial arts to describe free-style practice (sparring). The term denotes an exercise in 取り ''tori'', applying technique to a random ( 乱 ''ran'') succession of ''uke'' attacks. The actual connotation of ''rando ...

(sparring) session against

, which prevented him from using his best technique; the

Ippon Seoinage The is a throw in judo.Mifune, Kyuzo: ''The Canon of Judo'', Kodansha International Ltd. (Tokyo) 2004, , p. It is a variant of Seoi nage, and is one of the nineteen accepted techniques in Shinmeisho No Waza of Kodokan Judo. It is classified a ...

. He won the gold medal overcoming this injury, and was given the JOC Sports Award by the

Japanese Olympic Committee The is the National Olympic Committee in Japan for the Olympic Games movement, based in Tokyo, Japan. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams and raises funds to send Japanese competitors to Olympic events organised by the Internati ...

. Koga briefly retired from competitive judo after his victory at the Olympics, but made his return with a gold medal at the

1995 World Judo Championships The 1995 World Judo Championships were the 19th edition of the World Judo Championships, and were held in Chiba, Japan in 1995. Medal overview Men Women Medal table Results overview Men 60 kg 65 kg 71 kg 78 kg 86 kg 95 kg + ...

in Chiba, Japan. He suffered a surprising defeat by ''

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

'' in a qualification match for the 1996 Summer Olympics, but was chosen as the representative anyway because of his past experience in the Olympic games. He ended his third appearance at the Olympics with a silver medal in the -78 kg division. Koga announced his final retirement from competition in 2000, and became the head coach for the All-Japan women's judo team. In April 2003, he founded the Koga Juku, a judo school for young children, in

Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki is one of the 7 wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 215,158 and a density of 13,150 persons per km². The total area is 16.38 km². Geography Takatsu Ward is loc ...

. One of his pupils,

Ayumi Tanimoto born August 4, 1981, in Anjo, Aichi, is a Japanese judoka. She was coached by Toshihiko Koga, who is a gold medalist at the Barcelona Olympics and a silver medalist at the Atlanta Olympics Men's Judo. Tanimoto won the Women's -63 kg cat ...

, won the gold medal in the -63 kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He became the head coach of the

International Pacific University is a private university in Higashi-ku, Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 91 ...

's judo team (located in

Akaiwa, Okayama is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 43,359 in 18809 households and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Akaiwa is located in east-central O ...

) in April 2007, and has enjoyed celebrity status in Japan as an 8th dan rank holder in judo, appearing on several national television shows. One day before his death he was promoted to the rank of 9th dan by the Kodokan.

References

External links

* *
Videos of Toshihiko Koga
(judovision.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Koga, Toshihiko 1967 births 2021 deaths Japanese male judoka Olympic judoka of Japan Judoka at the 1988 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1992 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Japan Sportspeople from Saga Prefecture Nippon Sport Science University alumni Olympic medalists in judo Asian Games medalists in judo World judo champions Judoka at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Deaths from cancer in Japan 20th-century Japanese people