Cindy Ngamba has not had a straightforward upbringing.
Arriving in Bolton from her native Cameroon aged 11, the Olympic bronze medallist had no idea she had arrived without any official status in her new home country.
It was something she wouldn’t discover until it came time to apply for university – and her dad revealed she had ‘no papers’.
What followed included an arrest and traumatic stints in detention centres across the country.
However, she was eventually granted refugee status in 2020, leading her to competing as part of the Refugee Olympic Team in Paris 2024.
Getting started boxing at Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club aged 14, Cindy’s former coach David Langhorn – now aged 80 – had no idea the young girl from Cameroon would one day become an Olympic medallist.
The Bolton News caught up with Cindy – now aged 25 – at the Elite Boxing gym in Halliwell, where she has trained since she was aged 15.
We asked Cindy how she was feeling after winning bronze and what she plans to do next. We also asked Cindy about how it is to live with refugee status and the personal trials she has endured, which you can read here.
How are you feeling after winning bronze?
“I’m taking it in each day, it’s amazing – it still has not hit me. I’m still myself: I’m still Cindy.
“I think it’s amazing what I’ve achieved and what I’ve accomplished, my aim was to get a gold medal, but I’m overwhelmed I won a medal at least – other athletes that worked just as hard, like me, didn’t come on top, I worked so hard and I managed to grab myself a medal, being the first-ever to win a medal for the refugee team.”
Cindy said she switched off social media while she was in Paris, but upon returning she found out the strength of support she had received at home, with the Mayor of Bolton even coming along to Elite Boxing’s viewing party to cheer her on.
Cindy said: “The support when I was down there in Paris for my whole team, that itself was amazing.
“Elite Boxing – my community there was so supportive, even though I was off social media during the Olympics, I was getting sent little clips on WhatsApp about people supporting me and videos too, people going crazy.
“Even the mayor was there watching me too, in my gym – it was amazing, man, it gave me the strength to take each fight as it comes and just push myself each fight and give it my all.”
What went through your mind after you won the semi-final and were guaranteed bronze?
“I was over the moon, I was speechless – going into my second fight when I knew it was for a medal, I knew I’d already had my first bout – so I was kind of relaxed now.
“The first bout is always a bit harder, you’re a bit stiff and a bit – you don’t perform as well as you wanted to.
“My first fight was against the Canadian, the first in the whole world – and my second was against the fifth in the whole world.
“So, I knew that – I knew my potential, I knew how hard I worked, I knew my mindset and my physicality was on point.
“Anything that my opponent was going to bring to the table, I had something to back up – and also I had a great team on my side, I had Great Britain boxing coaches by my side, they’ve been there with me for the past 24 years so they know me inside out, and they know we had a tactic, and I stuck to the tactic.
“That’s the beauty of boxing and having great people by your side – when you have a great team and you plan a tactic and you get in that ring and you stick to that tactic, and you can hear them each round and you stick to it, you can come up on top and improve.”
Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox.
You got your start at the Lads and Girls’ Club and then you trained at Elite – what does training in Bolton mean to you?
“I’m originally from Cameroon, when I first came to the UK, I moved straight to Bolton. I love Bolton, Bolton’s my town, man, it’s the best place ever.
“It’s very quiet, the people are very friendly, there’s a community, it’s a small town – people don’t really know Bolton. When you go to Manchester or if you go to Sheffield or you go to London, people ask you ‘where are you from?’.
“People will guess you’re from London, they will guess you’re from Manchester and I’m like ‘I’m not from Manchester, I’m from Bolton’ – they’re like ‘Bolton what?’, -- what do you mean you don’t know Bolton?
“Bolton’s the best place ever, it’s the most quiet place ever and I loved it, because I moved here when I was 11 years old and I feel like I’m a Bolton girl.
“People tell me that my accent is a bit Bolton, but I don’t know about that. But, listen, I came to Bolton, Bolton welcomed me with open arms, took me in, I went to school, college, university here in Bolton.
“I started boxing in Bolton, Bolton Lads and Girls Club is still open now as a club that welcomes loads of young kids that are hanging around in the street and don’t have anything to do after they finish school.
“It was 50p to enter, and sometimes even if you didn’t have 50p they’d still welcome you in. There was everything to do in the youth club – you want to do any sport, you don’t really want to do any sport, you can participate in drawing or all the tasks, it gives young kids something to do, it motivates them and gives them hobbies.
“It makes them change their life and makes them appreciate other things in life than to just hang about in the street; Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club welcomed me and gave me whatever and all the support that I needed.”
Cindy added: “And then Elite Boxing welcomed me with open arms and supported me with everything I needed. It was hard for me to find people to fight me, I’ve had about three ABAs with England Boxing and I won each one of them, so when I was put on the England website to fight an opponent, no-one wanted to fight me.
“They were able to get people from all over – from Sweden – we had a big show in 2021 and Savannah Marshall, Natasha Jonas, they came to watch me and I won my fight – they are behind my back.
“Even before I qualified for the Olympics they were by my side, Elite Boxing, and even during the Olympics they were by my side.
“This is my family, so people that care for me, that just want me to succeed, they have praise for me and they have all the support, they have so much support for me I take them as part of my family.”
What does boxing mean to you? Why not another sport?
“Boxing means the world to me. I was always a sporty child when I was born, even when I lived in Cameroon, when I moved here in the UK, I wanted to be a football player.
“That was the career pathway I wanted to do, and I started football at Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club in the female team, and then I think I got a bit bored with the training because it wasn’t hard enough, it wasn’t more challenging.
“That’s when I found boxing; Boxing was very challenging for me. It was something that you learn every day – you’re never going to better every day, there’s going to be obstacles just like life, up and down, I have good days and bad days.
“I think I got drawn to it because it was hard, it was challenging and I learned so much about myself, and with time when I get better at certain things, I get so excited because I know that all the hard work I put into it, I became better.
“Also, boxing is a family – even though it’s an individual sport it feels like it’s a team sport. You have your coaches, you have people that support you, you have your teammate, you have all the boxing team there, and you have the people that are not even involved in boxing that are supporting you and wanting you to succeed.”
Cindy added: “I came to the UK, I was an introvert – I was a very shy child. I didn’t speak the language properly, English wasn’t my first language and having to adapt myself and having to find my confidence, having to stand up for myself, having to find something for myself – boxing was what drew me in.”
Now you’re an Olympic bronze medallist – what’s next?
“It’s a big decision in my life – I have to be very, very careful in what I decide to do, just like any other athlete out there that has two options – whether to turn pro or stay amateur.
“I’m going to take my time and there’s no rush. It’s my life at the end of the day, I get to choose what’s best for me, there’s pros and cons in both pro and amateur.
“I’m taking my time, and when I do decide what is best for me – whether I’m going to turn pro or stay amateur – I will let everyone know all about it.
“Also, there’s more than life than just being an athlete. I have a degree in Crime and Justice from Bolton University, so if I choose that I don’t really want to do any type of sport, or I want to do both of them, then if I want to stay amateur and do a job in crime and justice, or if I want to go and do my Masters’.
“I can go and do my Masters’ again because I want to do my Master’s at the moment, one of my goals was to do my Masters’.
“I’m still deciding, I’m taking each day as it comes.”
What’s it like seeing people turning out to support you at Elite Boxing?
“It’s amazing, man, I have so much support. During the Olympics when I was competing I knew there was loads of support – people caring for me, even before I left for the Olympics I had so much support, and people wanting the best for me, wanting me to come on top.
“It just shows that people are happy to see me, people took their time to travel all the way, far away, to come and say ‘congratulations’ and look at my medal and see all the hard work I’ve done.
“I’m just so happy, there’s so much love in Bolton I don’t know how to express how thankful and appreciative I am for so many people.”
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel