The Olympic Games are bound up with questions of nationality, with crowds waving a kaleidoscopic collage of different flags and national anthems playing for every gold medal winner.
So when boxer Cindy Ngamba pumped her chest and gestured to the crest on her vest when she guaranteed herself an Olympic bronze medal on Sunday after beating France’s Davina Michel, it didn’t necessarily seem like an extraordinary moment.
Except it was the Refugee Olympic Team crest that Ngamba held up as she celebrated the historic achievement of becoming their first ever medal-winning athlete after winning her women’s middleweight quarterfinal and guaranteeing herself a place on the podium.
Ngamba was born in Cameroon and moved to the UK aged 11, where she now trains, but represents the Refugee Olympic Team, which has allowed refugee athletes to compete at the Games since 2016.
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She took up boxing in the UK aged 15 where she rose through the age-group ranks to become a world-class prospect and came out as gay at 18 – if she returns to Cameroon, she could be sent to prison since homosexuality is banned in the country.
“I’m so grateful,” Ngamba told Eurosport after her fight. “I’m over the moon, I had my refugee team, the crowd, France and Paris team, and everyone in my family to come and support me. Most of all, I just want to thank the Lord.”
“You can see how emotional I was, I still can’t believe it. She was a tough opponent … very technical. I just want to thank GB Boxing. They have been by my side … they believed in me. They got hold of the Refugee team and they’re the ones that gave me the hope and the belief, they’ve been by my side through thick and thin.”
Since Ngamba’s UK citizenship status is not yet confirmed, she cannot represent Team GB, but as a refugee, she is able to represent the Refugee Olympic Team for whom she was one of the flagbearers at the opening ceremony.
But Ngamba has had to fight for this protected status, signing papers every week to stay in the UK and enduring an arrest that took her to a detention camp in London from which she was later released.
“Being a refugee to me means a life-changing opportunity,” she told the Olympics website before these Games. “A lot of refugees out there all around the world have so many potentials, but they don’t have that the doors open for them yet. It’s a big family, all around the world.”
