| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National team | Refugee Olympic Team | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 September 1998 Douala, Cameroon | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | Middleweight | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Boxing | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Bolton | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
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, 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 is unable to return to Cameroon without risk of imprisonment, as homosexuality is illegal there. [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]
Ngamba turned professional and signed a multi-fight contract with promotors Boxxer in January 2025. [21]
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.
Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She was the undisputed and lineal world lightweight champion from 2019 to 2024, and has held the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight championship since 2023. Hugely popular in Ireland, she is credited with raising the profile of women's boxing at home and abroad, and is regarded as the outstanding Irish athlete of her generation.
Nicola Virginia Adams is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2017 to 2019. She retired with an undefeated record and held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female flyweight title in 2019. As an amateur, she became the first female boxer to become an Olympic champion after winning gold at London 2012, and the first double Olympic champion following a second gold medal at Rio 2016, both in the flyweight division. As of 27 May 2016 she was the reigning Olympic, World and European Games champion at flyweight, and won the entire set of amateur championships available to her – Olympic, Commonwealth and European Games' titles, and the World, European and European Union championships.
Adriana Dos Santos Araújo is a Brazilian professional boxer. As an amateur she won a bronze medal in the lightweight division at the 2012 Olympics and qualified for the 2016 Olympics at the same weight.
Lauren Louise Price is a Welsh professional boxer, former amateur boxer and former kickboxer and footballer. She has held the WBA, IBO, and Ring female welterweight World titles since 11 May 2024. She was the first-ever female British professional boxing champion having won the welterweight title on 6 May 2023 and holding it until vacating the belt when she became World champion. While representing Wales in the amateur sport she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Welsh woman to win a Commonwealth Games boxing medal. Four years later she surpassed this achievement by winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, followed by a gold at the 2019 World Championships. While representing Great Britain, she won gold medals at the 2019 European Games and 2020 Summer Olympics.
The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants who are refugees. In March 2016, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world in order to raise global awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis in Europe. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refuge Foundation to supporting refugees over the long term.
Rosie Eccles is a Welsh amateur boxer who won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as well as a host of other medals at international competitions representing both Wales and Great Britain.
Kellie Anne Harrington OLY is an Irish retired amateur boxer. During her career she was double Olympic gold medalist, winning at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and 2018 World champion. Harrington also won gold medals at the 2023 European Games and European Championship.
Amy Sara Broadhurst is an Irish amateur boxer. She is the 2022 IBA World Light-welterweight champion, and won the gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Lin Yu-ting is a Taiwanese amateur boxer. She has won two gold medals at the IBA World Boxing Championships, in addition to two gold medals at the Asian Games and one at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships. She competed for Taiwan at the 2024 Summer Olympics where she defeated Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the final of the women's 57 kg category (featherweight). Lin is the first Taiwanese boxer to win an Olympic gold medal.
Chantelle Cameron is an English professional boxer. She is a former world champion in two weight classes, including the former undisputed light-welterweight champion, having held the WBC title between 2020 and 2023; the IBF and Ring magazine titles between 2021 and 2023 ; and the WBA and WBO titles between November 2022 and 2023. She previously held the IBO female lightweight title from 2017 to 2019 and light-welterweight title from 2022 to 2023. She has held the interim WBC female super-lightweight title since 20 July 2024.
Charley Davison is a British amateur boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2023 European Games.
Great Britain, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA) which represents the United Kingdom, competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. The delegation of 327 athletes included 172 women and 155 men and featured 73 medallists from previous Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. Additionally some British overseas territories - Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Caymen Islands - compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition having received IOC recognition prior to the institution of rules restricting membership to sovereign states.
Delicious Orie is a British amateur boxer who won gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2023 European Games.
Lewis Richardson is an English boxer who as an amateur won a bronze medal in the 71 kg category at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He also won a silver medal at the 2022 European Championships and competed at the 2019 World Championships.
The IOC Refugee Olympic Team competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. 37 athletes from 11 countries of origin represented the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in 12 sports, with 14 of the 37 athletes being Iranian.
Chantelle Reid is an English amateur boxer. She represented Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Patrick Brown is an English professional boxer. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Yahya Al-Ghotany is a Syrian taekwondo practitioner. A refugee in Jordan, he was selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics and was named the flag bearer for the Refugee Olympic Team.
