Cameroonian Cindy Ngamba, who fled to London because of her homosexuality, has qualified for the semi-finals of the under-75kg boxing tournament, making history as the first medallist from the Refugee Olympic Team.
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From our special correspondent at Arena Nord,
” Winner ! “When Cindy Ngamba’s mother decided to add the name Winner to her birth certificate, did she suspect that her daughter would have a life of fighting? This Sunday, the young woman, born 25 years ago in Douala, won probably the best of her fights. The victory in the quarter-finals against the Frenchwoman Davina Michel by unanimous decision of the judges opens the doors to a medal for her at the same time as it offers the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) a historic trinket.
Cindy is Cameroonian, but in the ring she was not fighting for her country, but rather for all the refugees of the world, for whom she was the flag bearer during the opening ceremony. Moreover, she made it clear: ” I dedicate this medal to God, the Great Britain boxing team, the refugee team and my family. “.
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This medal, while waiting to know its color, is full of symbols for Gonzalo Barrio, manager of the Olympic refugee team. This is the first medal for the Refugee Olympic Team. It’s historic. !he rejoices in a broken voice. This is truly a historic moment for us. We also want to show that our athletes are of a very high level and deserve to be here, they can win medals. They are not just here to represent, not only nearly 120 millions of displaced people, but also to demonstrate that if given the opportunity, they can be great champions and achieve the Holy Grail, which is winning an Olympic medal. »
For Cindy Ngamba, whose mother lives in Paris, this medal is necessarily special, but there is no doubt that it will also have a resonance in Cameroon, a country where the boxer can no longer set foot because of her homosexuality. After the coming out of President Paul Biya’s daughterwill this medal won by Cindy help to relaunch the debate on homosexuality in the land of the Indomitables?
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