Oren Smadja

Shay-Oren Smadja (אורן סמדג'ה; born 20 June 1970) is an Israeli judo coach and former competitive judoka. Smadja won an Olympic bronze medal in 1992 Summer Olympics, making him the first Israeli male to win an Olympic medal, and the second Israeli overall after Yael Arad who won silver in judo the day before.

Career
Smadja was born in Ofakim, Israel, to a family of Tunisian Jewish descent. He won an Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics at the under 71 kg category. In 1995, he won a silver medal at the 1995 World Judo Championships. The next year, he could not repeat his Olympic success when participating at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

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

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

Smadja is the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal both as an athlete and as a coach.

Personal life
Smadja is married to Liat and the couple had two sons and a daughter. They live in Ganot Hadar. In 2024, his son Omer, a reservist soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, was killed in action in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.