Cindy N’Gamba, 25, who fled her native Cameroon at the age of 11 to pursue her dream of becoming a boxer in the United Kingdom, has won the first medal for a refugee team.
Ngamba defeated France’s Davina Michelle 5-0 (30-27 30-27 29-28 30-27 29-28) on all three judges’ scorecards to advance to the semifinals of the women’s boxing quarterfinals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena in Paris, France, on Thursday (local time).
Olympic boxing does not hold a bronze medal bout, but instead awards the bronze medal to the winner of the semifinals.
As such, Ngamba was guaranteed at least a bronze medal regardless of the outcome of his semifinal.
N’Gamba’s bronze medal is also significant in Olympic history. It’s the first medal for a refugee team since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has organized three consecutive refugee teams for Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024 to showcase athletes who have fled their countries due to civil unrest, war, or discrimination.
The refugee team failed to fulfill their medal dreams in Rio and Tokyo, but in Paris, they broke through the “medal blood” blocked by the flag bearer, Eun Gam-bi.
N’Gamba arrived in Britain from Cameroon at the age of 11, but after losing his immigration documents, he was detained while attending an immigration court in Bolton and sent to a detention center in London.
Without a British passport, Ngambi took up boxing while living in fear of being sent back to Cameroon.
As an LGBTQ person, he was unable to return to Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal, so he dedicated himself to boxing in the UK.
Despite training with the British national team, N’Gamba traveled to the Paris Olympics as a refugee without a passport and finally broke through the quarterfinal barrier to secure a bronze medal.
“I want to tell refugees around the world that if you work hard and push yourself, you can achieve anything,” N’Gamba said after the race, emphasizing that “I’m just a human being, just like all the other refugees and athletes around the world.”
Ngambi will face Panama’s Athena Bairong in the semifinals on Sept. 9 to try to reach the final.
Meanwhile, a total of 37 refugees competed in 12 sports at the Paris Games. 안전놀이터