The first time the IOC allowed a Refugee Team to compete at the Olympic Games, many embraced the spirit of the rallying call behind the competition: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”
But Cindy Ngamba went one step further, making history by clinching the first-ever medal for the Refugee Olympic Team.
She secured bronze in the women’s 75 kg middleweight boxing event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, another milestone for the Cameroon-born athlete who continues to smash through barriers.
Despite the many obstacles she’s faced in her life, the boxer has never let her circumstances limit her, harbouring high ambitions. At her first Olympic appearance, Ngamba wanted gold.
“My goal when I came to the Olympics was to win gold – at the end of the day I’m just another athlete that’s striving for the highest level – and I came out with an important medal which is the most important thing. I’m so proud and honoured,” she told Olympics.com at Paris 2024.
And on 20 June, as the world marks World Refugee Day, highlighting the courage and resilience of people forced to flee their homes, Ngamba’s fight in and outside the ring continues to inspire millions who are forcibly displaced either due to conflict, violence or fleeing for their own safety.
How boxing became a refuge
When Ngamba moved to the UK aged 11 from Central Africa, she struggled to adapt. Everything felt very different compared to Cameroon, causing her to withdraw into herself after also being bullied for her weight and her accent.
These incidents made her quiet and reserved, and boxing became her refuge.
Ngamba threw her first punches at a local boxing club in Bolton, before being invited to train with the GB Olympic programme in Sheffield.
“GB boxing has taken me in with open arms and they’ve pushed to try their best to support me,” Ngamba, who was one of the flagbearers for the Refugee Team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, told Olympics.com last year.
“Even though I couldn’t represent Great Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics, they saw talent in me, and the skills that I had, and they didn’t want my potential to be wasted.”
Like many refugees around the world, the middleweight boxer pushed through with resilience and courage.
The most difficult moment for Ngamba, who has not been able to go back to her home country due to her sexuality, was when she was 20. She came close to being deported after attending what she believed was a routine check-in with authorities to confirm her presence in the UK.
Instead, she was arrested and detained for a day alongside her brother, Kennet, and transferred from Manchester to a detention centre for reasons she still has not fully been given.
“There are two things I think about when I look at my life. Firstly, I felt like at any moment immigration was going to send me back to a country that I left when I was little…One time I was sent to a female detention camp where I met other women who had been there for many, many years, and some of them were going to be sent back to their country. I felt helpless,” she told us in a previous interview.
“So when I feel pressure in boxing, I remember that nothing compares to the pressure I felt at that detention camp, at a time when I was going through so much hardship. So ultimately I just get that energy and that striving, and I believe in myself that I’m going to empty the tank in every single fight because I’ve already come through harder times.”
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/world-refugee-day-2026-how-cindy-ngamba-found-community-boxing-olympic-path
