The refugee team is taking part in the Olympics for the third time – and can now celebrate winning a medal for the first time. Boxer Cindy Ngamba played a key role in this.
Beaming with joy, Cindy Ngamba danced through the ring and pointed to the special emblem on her vest. The boxer gave the refugee team the first Olympic medal in history and celebrated the historic success exuberantly. The 25-year-old moved into the semifinals with a unanimous point victory against the Frenchwoman Davina Michel (26), thus securing bronze in the weight class up to 75 kg.
For the Refugee Olympic Team of the International Olympic Committee, which is taking part in the Summer Games for the third time after Rio 2016 and Tokyo three years ago, it is the first medal ever. Ngamba, who lives in England, led the refugee team as flag bearer at the opening ceremony. For the first time, the team is competing in Paris with its own emblem, with a heart in the middle.
The refugee team is sending “a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people worldwide,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. At the same time, “the world is being made aware of the extent of the refugee crisis.” 37 athletes are part of the refugee team this time. Ten of them live in Germany and have found a sporting home there.
“This means the world to me,” said Ngamba after her historic success. Her message to all refugees and generally to all people around the world: “Work hard, believe in yourself, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.” She wants to use her sporting achievements to motivate people who have to overcome similar challenges to her.
Although she is a three-time English champion, she is not allowed to play for the Great Britain team because she does not have a British passport. At the age of eleven, the boxer left her homeland of Cameroon with her brother to live with her father in Bolton. As a teenager, she was detained pending deportation, and the threat of deportation was only averted at the last moment.
In Cameroon, she has to fear for her safety because of her sexual orientation, as homosexuality is punishable there. “So if I had been sent back, I could have gone to prison,” Ngamba told Eurosport.
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