PARIS, France — Her name echoing around the stadium, Cindy Ngamba climbed into the Olympic ring and danced from foot to foot as she threw jabs with her bright blue Paris 2024 boxing gloves.
By winning her first fight at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, the 25-year-old Ngamba is one victory away from clinching the Refugee Team’s first Olympic medal. After a grueling bout against 2022 world champion Tammara Thibeault of Canada, the possibility of a medal feels closer than ever.
"I’m going to be the first ever refugee to make it out there," she said. “There’s a lot of pressure out there. I am human, I have emotion, and I’m not going to hide about that ... but I never let pressure bring me down. I’ve gone through so many obstacles in life, just like millions of refugees."
Ngamba is among the 37 athletes who make up the biggest Olympic Refugee Team selected since the concept of bringing such a group together was conceived ahead of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
It's a welcoming place for athletes who've had to flee their countries due to war or political persecution, giving them a chance to continue to pursue their sports.
Many saw Ngamba's triumph on Wednesday as a message of hope at a time of record migration, and as 100 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
The team is “a symbol of inclusion, of equality, of achievement for a large community around the world of refugees and displaced people,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the AP in an interview on Sunday.
Ngamba was born in Cameroon and moved to England when she was 11.
She moved “for a better life” and struggled to start anew in England, and learn a new language. Now she trains alongside the British team in Sheffield.
“There are so many refugees that are going through so many issues," she said. “They don’t believe in themselves and they feel like its the end of the world. I hope by them watching me, they see that anything in life I’ve gone through I’ve been able to overcome.”
The refugee team has had some profile at the Paris Games, being among the first Olympic delegations to cruise along the Seine River in the opening ceremonies last week.
On Wednesday, a crowded stadium roared for Ngamba and a pack of people cheered and carried signs reading “For the refugees.” As they did, Ngamba went to work with her gloves, expelling air as she landed blows.
Thibeault won the world middleweight title in 2022, and she was seeded No. 3 in Paris. Rankings meant nothing to Ngamba, who outpointed Thibeault in a split decision. Ngamba finished strongly, claiming the third round on four cards to secure the win.
“I pushed my body so hard to the point where I’m thinking ‘wow, why am I doing this?” she said. “You strive each day, each second, each hour. When I qualified for the Olympics, I said, ’Wow I actually think I’m made for this.”
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed from Paris.
