Cindy Ngamba: I'm fighting for 100 million people at Paris Olympics - I hope I show you can overcome anything

The Cameroonian-born boxer, who is representing the Refugee Olympic Team having been based in the UK since the age of 11, pulled off a stunning result to beat 2022 world welterweight champion Tammara Thibeault at a rocking North Paris Arena.

Bolton-based Ngamba, 25, fled her home country to pursue a ‘better life’ but has encountered obstacle after obstacle since arriving in the UK. The three-weight national champion, who is out as LGBTQ+, has fought continually to gain British citizenship while it remains unsafe to return to Cameroon, a nation where it is still illegal to be gay and human rights groups have documented the rising persecution of LGBTQ+ people in the country.

But despite those fears, at the age of 17, Ngamba was surrounded by law enforcement at one of her regular appointments at an immigration office before being taken to a detention centre in London where the authorities sought to deport her.

This did not materialise owing to the political and cultural Cameroonian climate and in the eight years that followed, Ngamba – who trains with the GB Boxing setup in Sheffield – has astonishingly navigated her way to the bright Olympic lights.

Attached to Elite Boxing in Halliwell, she is one of 37 athletes from 11 countries representing the Refugee Olympic Team in Paris, a concept introduced ahead of Rio 2016 in light of the global crisis and one Ngamba had the privilege of carrying the flag for at Friday’s opening ceremony.

Five days later, she outboxed, outfoxed and outthought rangy Canadian Thibeault and now harbours genuine hopes of becoming the first Refugee Team athlete to win an Olympic medal. And she was roared on by a raucous refugee-supporting contingent congregated in a corner of the North Paris Arena, whose banner displaying the words ‘for the 100 million’ perfectly encapsulated Ngamba’s inspirational message to every refugee across all corners of the world.

She said: “Me being here means the world to me – and I hope that it means the same to all the others around the world. For people that are going through so many issues and obstacles, they can believe in themselves and feel like it’s not the end of the world.

“I hope that them watching me and they can see that anything in life that you go through, you’re able to overcome it. I’ve got through so many obstacles in life, just like so many other refugees around the world.

“All of us who are in the Olympics competing don’t let obstacles or pressure get in the way of them – I train and fight hard for it, visualise any situation that can happen and I am prepared for it because I have seen the hardship in life. I am one of millions of refuges around the world, billions of humans and I hope to give them motivation too.”

Ngamba next faces the French sixth seed Davina Michel in her quarter-final bout on Sunday. Her story is a rare ray of light for British-based boxers with light middleweight Lewis Richardson the only member of the six-strong Team GB contingent to progress beyond the opening round.

After his brilliant win over wily Serb Vakhid Abbasov, the 27-year-old faces Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash in the quarter-finals on Saturday. The fight is expected to take place around 7.30pm.

Watch every moment of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics.