Boxer Cindy Ngamba aspires to motivate other migrants with her achievements

Cindy Ngamba, a boxer, thinks her victory encouraged other refugees going through difficult circumstances to “aim high.” She created history by being the first athlete to compete as a refugee and win an Olympic gold.

Ngamba declared on Friday in Paris, “It’s going to end and there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The 25-year-old, who was born in Cameroon, gave the Refugee Olympic Team—which was established to raise awareness of the suffering of migrants worldwide—hope.

After a tough fight in front of an ardent French audience in the women’s 75-kilogram quarterfinals against French boxer Davina Michel, Ngamba emerged victorious at the Paris Games.

Ngamba got a bronze medal and celebrated by yelling and pumping her fist.

She competed against Atheyna Bylon, who soon after made sure Panama would win its fourth-ever Olympic medal.

She told the Associated Press, “It means the world to me to have qualified for the Olympics and to have won a medal.” “I am just one in a million of the world’s refugees.”

She represented the 37 athletes that comprise the largest Refugee Olympic Team since the concept was conceived before to the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games in 2016.

The squad was established by the International Olympic Committee to enable migrants and displaced athletes to compete completely in the Olympics without assistance from national federations.

Ngamba, who immigrated to the UK at the age of eleven, claims that she was given refugee status in 2021 because she may have faced jail time in Cameroon if she hadn’t been gay.

She claims that boxing has helped her escape the pandemonium and elevated her to a global level.

She admitted to reporters that she had difficulty adjusting to her new life in the United Kingdom at first. From a lively child in Cameroon, she had become an introvert as she learnt the language.

Ngamba was considered the refugee team’s greatest chance at medaling in Paris, despite the fact that a few of the athletes on the squad have already won Olympic medals for their nations in previous Games.

Ngamba’s accomplishments, along with those of other athletes on the refugee squad, coincide with a period of unprecedented global migration, with over 100 million people being forcefully displaced from their homes.

Since its founding, the Refugee Olympic Team’s membership has almost doubled.

During the opening ceremony, the refugee team was one of the first delegations from the Olympics to sail down the Seine River.

She said that her victory demonstrates that “you can achieve anything” despite “all the obstacles and tragedy” that migrants experience. You are capable of so much in life.”

“Through so many pathways that I’ve gone through in life, I hope every refugee all around the world can see my story.”