| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National team | Refugee Olympic Team | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 September 1998 Douala, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | Middleweight | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Boxing | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Bolton | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba (born 7 September 1998) [1] is a Cameroonian boxer who competed for the EOC Refugee Team at the 2023 European Games. She is the first-ever medalist for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympics, having won bronze in women's 75 kg boxing at the 2024 Summer Olympics. [2] [3] [4]
Ngamba was born in Cameroon. [5] At the age of 11, Ngamba moved to the United Kingdom. [5] Her uncle lost Ngamba's immigration paperwork when he moved back to Cameroon. [6] Ngamba has since gained a BA (Hons) degree in Crime and Criminal Justice at the University of Bolton. [7]
In 2019, [6] Ngamba and her brother were detained whilst attending an immigration office in Bolton, and sent to a detention centre in London. [7] [8] They were released the following day. [7] Aged 18, Ngamba came out as lesbian; as such, she does not want to return to Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal. [5]
Ngamba trains with GB Boxing, although she cannot compete for Great Britain as she does not have a British passport. [5] She has won British National Amateur Championships in three different weight categories, making her the first woman to achieve the feat since Natasha Jonas. [7] [5] In 2023, Ngamba won a Bocskai event in Hungary, [8] and competed in the under 75kg event [9] for the EOC Refugee Team at the 2023 European Games. [5]
She competed for the Refugee Olympic Team in the 2024 World Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament 1 [7] and qualified for the Summer Olympics in Paris, alongside her British colleague Chantelle Reid. [10] On 2 May 2024, Ngamba was officially named in the Refugee Olympic Team making her the first boxer to be selected for the team. [11] She was also chosen as one of the Refugee Olympic Team flag-bearers for the opening ceremony alongside Syrian Taekwondo athlete Yahya Al-Ghotany. [12] [13]
Ngamba was drawn to fight 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships gold medalist Tammara Thibeault from Canada in the first round [14] [15] and won by 3:2 split decision. [16] [17] She defeated 2022 World Championship bronze medalist Davina Michel of France via unanimous decision in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics to guarantee herself at least a bronze medal and in the process becoming the first person to win an Olympic medal for the Refugee Olympic Team. [18] [19] [20] She fought Atheyna Bylon from Panama in the semi-finals and lost by 4:1 split decision, therefore taking a bronze medal. [3] [4]
Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses to women boxers, and most nations officially banning the sport. Reports of women entering the ring go back to the 18th century.
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