An athlete from the Refugee Olympic Team wins a historic bronze medal in Paris
Cindy Ngamba, a 25-year-old Cameroonian refugee living in the United Kingdom, won the bronze medal in the boxing discipline at the Paris Olympics. She is the first athlete in any sport to secure a medal while representing the refugee team.
Cindy Ngamba moved to the UK aged 10 and is unable to return to the country of her birth, Cameroon, because of her sexuality - homosexuality is punishable with up to five years in prison in the African country. She lives in Bolton, where she took up boxing aged 15, and has since graduated from Bolton University with a degree in criminology.
On 8 August 2024, she became the first-ever athlete to win a medal for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, taking bronze in the women's boxing 75kg class after a semi-final loss to Panama's Atheyna Bylon at Paris 2024. The refugee team was first introduced in 2016 for the Rio Olympics but did not win a medal in Brazil or five years later in Tokyo.
For further information about Cindy Ngamba, please read this press release.