On Sunday, boxer Cindy Ngamba created history by becoming the first athlete to win an Olympic medal while participating as a refugee. The 25-year-old, who was born in Cameroon, gave the Refugee Olympic Team—which was established to raise awareness of the suffering of migrants worldwide—hope.
After a tough fight in front of an ardent French audience in the women’s 75-kilogram quarterfinals against French boxer Davina Michel, Ngamba emerged victorious at the Paris Games.
Ngamba has advanced to the semifinals on Friday night after winning with a scream and fist pump. She has at least one bronze medal to her name. She will compete against Atheyna Bylon, who just after Ngamba’s bout made sure Panama would win its fourth-ever Olympic medal with her own victory.
“It means the world to me to be the first ever refugee to win a medal,” Ngamba stated. “I want to say to all the refugees around the world … keep on working hard, keep on believing in yourself.”
She represented the 37 athletes who comprise the largest Refugee Olympic Team since the concept was conceived prior to the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games in 2016.
The squad was established by the International Olympic Committee to enable migrants and displaced athletes to compete completely in the Olympics without assistance from national federations.
Ngamba, who immigrated to the UK at the age of eleven, claims that she was given refugee status in 2021 because she may have faced jail time in Cameroon if she hadn’t been gay. She claims that boxing has helped her escape the pandemonium and elevated her to a global level.
She revealed to reporters on Sunday that she had difficulty adjusting to her new life in the United Kingdom at first. From a lively child in Cameroon, she became an introvert as she learnt the language. She remarked that on the Olympic squad and in boxing, she found her place.
In her opening fight, Ngamba defeated Canadian Tammara Thibeault, the former world champion, and she came out strong against Michel on Sunday, deflecting the French boxer’s blows with ease. The French crowd erupted in thunderous applause for Michel, while Ngamba reported hearing jeers in the North Paris Arena.
Ngamba remarked, “I think I only listened to boos as I walked into the ring,” adding that the onlookers were just another set of people who had never given up on her during her path to become the person she is today.
Ngamba is thought to be the refugee team’s best chance at medaling in Paris, despite the fact that a few of its athletes had already won Olympic medals for their nations in previous Games.
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Ngamba’s accomplishments, along with those of other athletes on the refugee squad, coincide with a period of unprecedented global migration, with over 100 million people being forcefully displaced from their homes. Since its founding, the Refugee Olympic Team’s membership has almost doubled.
During the opening ceremony last week, the refugee team was one of the first Olympic delegations to sail down the Seine River.
Ngamba’s triumph coincides with the tremendous scrutiny that women’s boxing has been under lately because to the online harassment that boxers Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan and Imane Khelif of Algeria endured, with remarks mischaracterizing them as men or transgender. This past weekend, both boxers emerged victorious, and the IOC applauded the ladies and cautioned against using the sport as a “witch hunt.”
Ngamba said she’s shooting for gold in her upcoming match and hopes to continue inspiring optimism among migrants worldwide. She already has a bronze medal under her belt.
