Toshihiko Koga, Japanese Olympic judo champion, dies of cancer at 53

Toshihiko Koga, a Japanese Olympic judo champion at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, his management company said. He was 53.The three-time Olympian was temporarily hospitalized in the spring of last year due to cancer, when multiple sources said he had one kidney removed last March.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 Olympic…READ FULL ARTICLE