Cindy Ngamba made headlines at the 2024 Paris Games when she became the first-ever medalist for the Olympic refugee team. The Cameroonian-born boxer took bronze in the Women’s 75 kg category and is now eyeing up her professional debut.
She’s hoping to become somewhat of a flagbearer for refugee boxers, as she becomes the first to turn pro. Ngamba had been hoping to fight Kirstie Bavington on an all-female card at the Royal Albert Hall in London this weekend, but had to pull out because of a ‘medical issue’.
However, Ngamba has insisted it won’t stop her from achieving the dream of becoming a professional boxer. Speaking to Sky News, she said: “I’ve had a very, very, very hard journey. I’m one of 100 million refugees out there, all around the world.
“So I’ll be the first ever refugee turning pro. And I’m sure many, many more will come. And I hope that all the refugees out there can just look at me and see what I’m achieving, and hopefully that can kind of give them motivation.”
Ngamba has had to fight both in and out of the ring to get where she is today, but despite her awe-inspiring story, the 26-year-old was recently denied British citizenship. She’s lived in the UK for 15 years after leaving Cameroon aged 11 and was celebrated by King Charles during a post-Olympics reception, but attempts to let her compete for Team GB at the 2024 Games and moving forward fell on deaf ears because Ngamba didn’t have citizenship.
She explained: “GB Boxing have tried their best. I’ve seen them trying their best to get my papers fixed sooner before the 2024 Olympics. And there was no way to fix it earlier before the Olympics.”
The boxer continued, reciting her experience of attending an immigration office in 2019: “In that moment, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Being taken to a detention camp, speaking to all the females down there that were telling me they had been there for years, months and days.
“And some of them didn’t even know when they were going to be released. And you go in there thinking, that’s going to be you, and you’re wondering, is that going to be me? Am I going to be staying there that long?
“You can’t speak to no one. You can’t hear from your family telling you everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine. That’s what kept me going during the build-up to the Olympics. I think it only made me stronger.”
