Paris 2024 Olympics: Ngamba one victory away from first refugee medal

With her name echoing through the stadium, Cindy Ngamba stepped into the Olympic ring and danced from one foot to the other, throwing punches with her bright blue Paris 2024 boxing gloves.

By winning her first bout at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, 25-year-old Cindy Ngamba is now just one win away from the refugee team 's first Olympic medal . After a grueling fight against 2022 world champion Tammara Thibeault of Canada , the possibility of a medal seems closer than ever.

"I'm going to be the first refugee in history to go all the way ," she said. "There's a lot of pressure. I'm human, I have emotions and I'm not going to hide from them, but I never let the pressure get me down. I've been through so many obstacles in life, like millions of refugees."

Ngamba is among 37 athletes who make up the largest refugee Olympic team selected since the idea of ​​assembling such a group was conceived ahead of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro .

It is a welcoming land for athletes who have had to flee their country due to war or political persecution , and who thus have the opportunity to continue practicing their sport.

Many saw Ngamba's triumph on Wednesday as a message of hope at a time of record migration and 100 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

The team is "a symbol of inclusion, of equality, of achievement for a large community of refugees and displaced people around the world ," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in an interview with the AP Sunday.

Cindy Ngamba was born in Cameroon and moved to England when she was 11. She moved “for a better life” and made an effort to make a fresh start in England and learn a new language. Today, she trains with the British team in Sheffield.

“There are so many refugees who are going through so many problems ,” she says. “They don’t believe in themselves and feel like it’s the end of the world. I hope that when they look at me, they will see that everything I’ve been through in life, I’ve overcome it.”

The refugee team made headlines at the Paris Games, being one of the first Olympic delegations to sail down the Seine during the opening ceremonies last week.

On Wednesday, a packed stadium cheered Ngamba and a group of people cheered as they carried signs reading “For Refugees .” Meanwhile, Ngamba went to work with her gloves, expelling air as she struck.

Thibeault won the middleweight world title in 2022, and she was seeded No. 3 in Paris. Rankings mean nothing to Ngamba, who beat Thibeault in a split decision. Ngamba finished strong, winning the third round on four cards to secure the victory.

"I pushed my body so hard that I wondered why I was doing this ," she said. "You're pushing yourself every day, every second, every hour. When I qualified for the Olympics, I knew I was meant to do this."