Judo head coach says he’ll attend Olympics weeks after son killed fighting in Gaza

The Olympic Committee of Israel confirms that the head coach of the men’s judo team, Oren Smadga, will travel to the Paris Olympics as part of the delegation just weeks after his son was killed fighting in Gaza.

Oren Smadga, who won a bronze medal for Israel at the 1992 Olympic Games, says that he will nevertheless head up the men’s judo team, flying to Paris just over a month after his son, Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Smadga, 25, was killed in a Hamas mortar attack in central Gaza.

“Amid all the difficulty and the pain I know that I must carry out my mission and my commitment in front of the world, in particular at this time,” Smadga says in a statement provided by the OCI. “We will go to the competition with our heads held high, out of adherence to the goal and the spirit of brotherhood which strengthens us always, in particular now.”