Breaking Barriers: Incredible Story of the First Olympic Refugee Team Medalist

16 hours ago

From Cameroon to the UK and the global Olympic stage, this inspiring journey of resilience, courage, and triumph is a story for the ages. The first-ever medalist representing the "Olympic Refugee Team" shares her path to winning a bronze in boxing at the Paris Olympics. After seeking asylum in the UK due to persecution in her homeland, she overcame countless challenges to make history and advocate for diversity and inclusion.

#Olympics #RefugeeTeam #BoxingChampion #DiversityInSports #Paris2024 #Inspiration #LGBTQIA+ #Cameroon #AsylumSeeker #BreakingBarriers #SportsForChange

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Transcript

00:00100% like you said, you know, I think as a fighter and as anyone that have gone to what I've gone to,

00:05you have to be physically but mainly mentally strong, you know, which for me was making

00:11change and being the first ever refugee to win a medal for. A very warm welcome to all the viewers

00:16of MyKale and OneIndia. Well, in the world of sports at the Olympics, we are used to seeing

00:20athletes representing their respective countries and the fans as well supporting and encouraging

00:28their respective athletes from their countries. However, a few athletes do not have the luxury

00:34of representing their respective countries for different reasons. That was formed the

00:40Olympic refugee team that was formed in 2016 Rio Olympics and we have with us today a guest,

00:47a boxer who has now become the first medal winner representing the Olympic refugee team

00:54when she won the bronze medal in boxing at the Paris Olympics around 24.

01:01Welcome to our show, Cindy Negamba. Thank you so much for coming. It's such an honor and

01:04privilege to host you today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate your time.

01:10Right, so Cindy, what a journey it has been for you. Born and raised in Cameroon and then moved to UK

01:18at the age of 11. Then you really started working hard on your boxing and of course, at the age of

01:2618 when you actually announced that you're kind of gay and couldn't go back to Cameroon because

01:32of legal procedures out there. But that only made your resolve stronger

01:39and that's why you represented the Olympic refugee team and now, yes, you are a medal

01:47winner and it's all for all of us to see as to what a great champion you are. So I guess apart

01:53from of course being a supreme athlete physically, you're very strong of course, but I guess mentally

01:59also as an individual, you're quite strong. You have to be strong outside the ring as well to come

02:03out of this struggle and be what you are right now, right? 100 percent. Like you said, you know,

02:10I think as a fighter and as anyone that have gone through what I've gone through, you have to be

02:14physically but mainly mentally strong, you know. You have to kind of have that mindset of if you've

02:21gone through like the worst situation when it comes to like pressure moment or moment when you're in

02:26front of thousands of non-people that you've never seen before or, you know, you have that pressure

02:31of having to kind of make change, which for me was making change and being the first ever

02:36refugee to win a medal for. Life has not been easy with my paper situation and just with life in

02:41general and being, I was an asylum seeker and I didn't have the papers and then I got my refugee

02:45status and I was able to kind of like, you know, go and get what I wanted in life and just

02:50achieve my goals, which my goals ever since I started boxing was to go to an Olympic and, you

02:54know, win a medal and become the best of the best and face the best of the best as much as I could.

02:59True, true. Absolutely. And I mean, what a unique situation it was for you and to be representing

03:05a refugee, Olympic refugee team. Everybody has got a different struggle. For example,

03:11you have got somebody like a Manisha Talas from Afghanistan, right, who was a break dancer

03:16representing your refugee team. And she actually had to run away from Afghanistan because of the

03:22Taliban regime not allowing as basic as dancing itself, forget about representing the country in

03:28break dancing. So likewise, you've got so many other stories. So how was the entire experience

03:32because on one hand, you're not representing a country, but then I guess the entire bonding

03:38would have been very strong, right, because you all have come out through some struggle or the

03:42other. And then you then supporting each other, even though you are actually from different

03:47countries, maybe at the same time. Yeah, the bonding was extreme. It was it was it was unique

03:52and it was unthinkable, not the type of it's not unthinkable in the world, like something that you

03:56would have never, you know, you would have never thought. Yeah, that's what I'm going to experience.

04:00So for me, mainly having to meet all the refugee at me before going into the village in the

04:05Olympic was amazing. You know, we all have different stories. We all have different

04:10achievement. And, you know, some of them have gone to the worst thing compared to me.

04:15But I think one thing that brought us all together is that we were representing the

04:19refugees in the team. And also we were very supportive and we were just happy to be there.

04:23But also we were more happy, you know, embracing refugees all around the world. You know,

04:29some of them have through the country. Some of them might have got killed. Some of the family

04:33more have got killed with them, too. Some of them have to leave their home in the town or their

04:38family and their friends. You know, some of them didn't even have their parents where they had

04:42moved originally in. So you got to kind of like sit back and just speak to some of them and just

04:47understand the stories and just deep how, you know, how bad they had it. And I think sometimes

04:53people kind of look at refugees and they just think refugees are just here to take over.

04:57They know that they don't want to work hard and such. And I'm thinking,

05:00you never know. These people have gone to so many barriers and so many horrible things,

05:06but they always have a smile on their face and they're always smiling. And they're just,

05:09you know, they're just happy about life in general.

05:12Now, talking about the Olympics, the big glory, of course, for you and for, of course, all of us

05:19as well. So going to the Olympics, how is the preparation like? Because like you rightly

05:24mentioned, like we all know, life in itself was tough. Forget about training, you know,

05:28going through all the legal procedures here and there. So how was the preparation overall?

05:33Of course, maybe one good thing was that coming from UK to France, maybe the altitudes,

05:37something like that, the conditions were kind of suiting you, also travel time, stuff like that.

05:42But apart from that, the rest was, I guess, would have been quite difficult, right?

05:46Going to the Olympics, training and, you know, how was, how did you actually, you know,

05:50prepare yourself in the camps? How was it like?

05:53It was a bit hard, of course. The Olympics was a bit hard as being a refugee because, you know,

05:57there is some competition I couldn't go to because I couldn't get a visa or the country

06:01would not allow me into it. And there was some training camp that I had to make sure that I am

06:06in it because all the people that had already qualified for the Olympics, I had to make sure

06:10that I go to the training camp that they were going so that I can kind of test myself in training

06:14so that I know what I have to be careful of when it comes to actually the Olympics,

06:19depending on when they do the draw and I draw against them and I face them in the Olympics.

06:24So it was a bit harder for me. And I had to go to London a couple of times to apply for visa.

06:30It wasn't easy. And in a moment where you just want to rest and you want to recover,

06:35I have to make a travel to London and get on the train. And that itself was like

06:39five hours back, five hours. It took a drain on me. But like I said, like we've spoken at

06:45the beginning, you know, you have to be mentally very strong and you have to kind of understand

06:49that this is my life, this is my situation and I have to make the best out of it and I have to

06:54appreciate the little things. So my way of seeing it was like, listen, I get to go to the Olympics

06:58because I qualified in Milan in April, I qualified for the Olympics. So even though I was chosen,

07:04but I qualified, I actually earned my spot to go to the Olympics. So I knew that I qualified for

07:09the Olympics. I just have to do this little bit to kind of go through the process of achieving my

07:14dream, which was to win the medal at the Olympics. And I'm sure many, all the other refugee athletes

07:19will have gone through the same situation as me. You know, some of them were living in Canada,

07:23Germany, Sweden, and I'm sure they must have had to apply for visa. And the refugee communities,

07:29the refugee organisation must have had to apply for visa for them because the refugees are not

07:34kind of, any refugees that go to Paris need a visa. So you kind of have to apply. And also

07:39you have to make sure that the visa that you have got, is it extended or is it a short visa?

07:43Because you have to make sure. And then when you apply for a long visa, it takes a longer time.

07:48It takes longer time. They're going to ask you, why do you, why are you going to that country

07:52for that long time? Why are you going to do that? So you have to give them as many evidence to why

07:56you're staying for that long. So it's not easy, man. It's not easy. There's a lot of work that

08:01goes into it. People only see me on stage and they just think, yeah, but they don't see the

08:05back. There's a big fight before the big fight. Take us through that quarterfinal

08:13bout against the French women and how was those rounds going by, going to the, you know,

08:19bout, how were you feeling and just take us through. And of course, how was the feeling to be

08:25knowing that, okay, you are at least going to win the bronze? Listen, I think my, my, the hardest

08:31bout was the Canadian one, my first bout. That was that kind of like the hardest one because

08:35she was number one and she was the one that was guaranteed gold. Everyone believed that she was

08:39going to be winning gold and she was going to be the number one. I'm at 75 kg, which is midway.

08:43So for me to have beaten her, it was kind of like, it gave me confidence in myself and having to

08:47understand how good I am and how skillful I am. So going into the French girl and I knew that,

08:51you know, she had all the crowd because she, you know, I was in her land. I was in France.

08:58You know, people be cheering for her and people be booing for me, but you kind of have to have

09:02that mindset when you get to like an elite, athlete level and not really, you know, have,

09:08focusing too much on what the crowd or et cetera. I just stayed on my job and I manned on my job and

09:13I listened to my team. I had a great team, my coaches, you know, we prepared, we watched a bit

09:18of videos of what my style and what she does. And I just, and we came up with that technique on how

09:23I can beat her, you know, and I listened to my corner and I won every round, everyone. I won

09:29every judge who went with me for every round. So I felt very good, you know, I felt like I can,

09:32I felt like I could take or take the world, you know, going into that fight, I knew that whatever

09:37she brings to the table, I'd be able to overcome it, you know, and I worked hard for a month.

09:41Let's just think about it before the build up of the Olympic, I worked my ass off, I trained very,

09:45very hard. I took myself to the deep end, you know, to the deep end where I had nothing left.

09:51So going to the Olympic, I knew that none of my opponent would be able to bring me to that,

09:56that, you know, to that deep end. So I was already ready.

10:00True, true, true. Yeah, great. Yeah. And finally you made it.

10:04Exactly, I made it.

10:06You made it big. You represent something as expressive as sports and that too in boxing,

10:13right? And we live in a society which is quite divided in terms of gender equality,

10:17diversity, stuff like that. But what do you say past 8, 10 years? Now, of course,

10:23I guess 24, 25 years?

10:2626.

10:2726, yeah. So anyway, you have not seen enough of the world as of yet, but still,

10:31but in the past 8, 10 years, since you have really started boxing, of course,

10:36you have started boxing before that. So do you think the world is more accepting now in terms

10:41of sports? Because sports is something that you just can't hide. I mean, you really have to express,

10:45right? I mean, it's, you have to go out and fight. So how do you see it in terms of

10:51gender equality, diversity, whatever you put on those lines?

10:55Well, I think all those key things mainly have a long way to go. But if you look at back in 10,

11:00like in 10 years, as you said, it's better than what it was. But it's not as better as what we

11:08would have wanted. You got to understand that we're living in a world where, you know, everyone's

11:12always going to have an opinion and there's always going to be, there's always going to be like an

11:16old-fashioned way. And to be able to change the old-fashioned way is going to take time.

11:22And I think a lot of people also need to be educated. I think people just listen to,

11:29see certain things and they're just judging straight away. You know, there's a saying

11:33when people say you judge a book by its cover, but you never actually read the book.

11:39You know, people don't read the book. You know, I think automatically people look at

11:42certain people or they look at certain stories or they look at all the key things, like you said,

11:47about diversity, you know, ethnicity and et cetera, et cetera. They're just judging straight

11:51away from their old ways of thinking, what they've been educated, what they've been trained to think.

11:57And sometimes, you know, when people actually take the time to educate themselves or they do

12:01their background research, they're actually gasped because they think, oh, wow, okay,

12:06I didn't think it was that way. I didn't think it was this way. Oh, wow, this is actually,

12:10this has actually changed my mind. This has actually opened my mindset on things. But yeah,

12:15the key thing I would say is people just need to be educated. And I think we have a long way to go.

12:19And I think, but we just have to appreciate what we have at the moment. We do. Even though some

12:25people that will find it think nothing has changed, you have to appreciate it. We're living

12:28in a world where, you know, everything is so busy and people always have things to say. Whether you

12:35do good or whether things are changing or not, we as women will never fully be at peace with certain

12:43things. But yeah, for me, having gone to Olympic and done what I've done, I've kind of felt like

12:50I've proved to people all around the world that refugees are not just going to Olympic or

12:54refugees are not just fleeing their country or going to other countries just to be lazy or just

13:00take over certain things. No, refugees are human. Just, you know, with the workers,

13:06they work their ass off. They want a better future, better life. They've gone through the

13:10worst thing, but somehow they always, you know, keep their health, their chin held high and they

13:13always keep on pushing, pushing. And, you know, that just showed me for what I've gone through

13:18from arriving in the UK when I was 11 years old and having to go through so many things about my

13:23paper situation and society and having to adapt into a new lifestyle. That was hard. It wasn't

13:28easy, bro. I didn't let that be the best for me. I kept going for my goals and my dream and I

13:35achieved it. And I'm sure in the future I'll be able to achieve more things. Now talking about,

13:40you know, of course, you are in the sphere of amateur boxing, Olympics, so to say. The general

13:45perception is that there's not much money involved in amateur boxing because, you know, of course,

13:51when you win, the government aids you and stuff like that, you know, that's really, of course,

13:55happens. But unlike professional boxing, there isn't much money in amateur boxing. Do you

14:02sometimes, you know, does it cross your mind, you know, sometimes that, okay, you'll also maybe end

14:08up as a professional boxer? Because we have seen a lot of amateur boxers, right from Muhammad Ali

14:12to Floyd Mayweather, they started amateur boxing and Olympics, they won medals there and then end

14:17up as professional boxers. Do you see that happening? Maybe, you know, at some corner of

14:21your head, okay, that could happen kind of thing? Yeah, I think, yeah, it could happen. For me,

14:27mainly, yeah, when I first started boxing, I started boxing just because it was a new sport

14:31and I found it very hard. And sometimes, I mean, when I find something hard, I will try to get

14:35better as I can to my best ability. No matter how it is, I will always try. And I fell in love with

14:39it. I kind of understood that, oh, I think I'm actually skillful here, you know, I can go a bit

14:44further, you know, in life with it. And I want to have this amount of fight, this amount of

14:48championship. And then when you win every championship, okay, I want to go internationally

14:52and compete. I want to go to them big tournament internationally. And then when you do that, you

14:56set yourself, okay, the goal, the big goal is the Olympic. And then as a boxer, when you train so

15:01many years to get to that, you know, that big goal, which is the Olympic, you finish and you're like,

15:06okay, I've achieved the goals that I wanted to. Then you set yourself next goal, which is some

15:10people will want to stay for the next cycle of the Olympic, you know, and some people will maybe,

15:14I don't know, go and think, okay, I want to go to university or college and study. And I'm going

15:19to the Olympic and I won a medal. Now I want to, I want to turn pro and see what, you know,

15:24and put my tests, put my skills into test with the pro style. And you never know, you never know,

15:30you never know what the future holds, or you can always, what you can do is just set yourself goals

15:35and just go and get it. You know, the world, my mum has this thing where she has always told me,

15:39the world is your oyster. You know, if you feel like you want to try something, go and try it,

15:43no one's going to stop you. No one's going to stop you. You, you're in charge of your life. So

15:47I'm in charge of my life. If I want to turn pro, I'm going to try out and see how it goes,

15:51you know, and I'm going to, and I feel like I'm actually very good. And I feel like I have all

15:55the skills needed to turn pro. So I'm going to try out loud. And if it doesn't work out,

16:00then I choose something else. Right. And just saying in a moment, you're going to reprocess,

16:04you're giving it all, that's it, right? And now, asking about your training schedule, how typically,

16:10how does your training goes by? Of course, when a tournament comes by, you'll train more, maybe,

16:16I mean, you'll just pace it up. But generally, how, what's your training schedule, like typical,

16:21on a typical day when you're in a training and kind of? So my typical training in a day,

16:28I mean, if you go in a week, I train three times a day. I wake up at 6.30 in the morning,

16:34I do a bit of stretch, and then I get ready to go on the track running, we do running,

16:37we do sprints, and we do long distance, just more explosive running, not explosive running,

16:41because I'm, I think my style, I'm more of an explosive boxer. So we do explosive long,

16:45short run, but like we do three minute, three trees. So how fast can you run? How many laps

16:50can you do in three minutes, basically. And then my second session is usually pads,

16:55pads, and my boxing session, I usually, it depends on what I do for pads, we usually do

17:01one hour on the pad. And then my evening session, my last session of the day is sparring, which

17:07I might do it about one hour and a half, depending on a spar, and then I go on the bag,

17:11and then I shadow boxing, and then I just, I stretch and I go on the sauna, I just recover.

17:17But I train about, when I'm getting ready for five, I train about six times, six times a week,

17:24and three times a day. I live and breathe it, man, you live and breathe it. You know,

17:29boxing is a very hard sport. You have to make sure you're well conditioned. And I have about

17:36two, I lift weight about twice every week. You know, lift weight is training condition,

17:43I do training condition on Wednesdays and Mondays. Yeah, I mean, boxing is also not

17:49only about hitting, right? It's also getting, it's also about getting punched, right?

17:54Because I think some people sometimes watch boxing, they're like, how come someone hit you,

17:57and you just, you're okay with it? But I think because you're conditioned,

18:00you don't understand that we condition our body. So Cindy, can we have a few rapid fire rounds now?

18:05What does that mean? It means I'll ask you a few questions. And then

18:10you just have to answer quickly. Let's get it. Let's get it. Yeah. Your dream bout, I mean,

18:19dream bout being two boxers that you always wanted to see, but somehow didn't happen.

18:24Which will be that it could be from different generation as well. You know,

18:28it has to be the two people that have inspired me from the very beginning when I started boxing

18:32Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. Oh, yeah. Same, same with me. Those are the best. Those are the go.

18:38Right, right, right. And who do you think will win the bout?

18:46And why? Muhammad Ali, because he just flows like a butterfly.

18:51Because of the movement, I guess. Yeah, he just flows.

18:55But if Mike Tyson just gets his uppercut, maybe.

19:00He's just so smooth, you know, even when he has a good chin, though, even when he gets hit.

19:06Maybe he'll take that. And I like his mindset and his attitude, the way he

19:11presented himself outside boxing too. Best friend that you have made from your

19:17Olympic refugee team? The best friend that I made from the refugee team will have to be

19:24one of the staff member, Gonzalo. I think it's called Gonzalo. He's been the one that

19:28took me in the refugee team. And, you know, he helped me to sort out the application. So

19:34I'm still with him from this day. It's still combat sport, but it's to do with Cameron,

19:38Francis Nguno and Gano, who happens to be one of my favorite UFC fighters. I mean, of course,

19:43now he's not in the UFC, he's in the PFL. But still, yeah. One of my dream, one of our dream

19:50bouts happens to be that has not yet happened is between Francis Nguno and John Jones. Who do you

19:57think will? I mean, again, you have to think very unbiasedly, because if you think, okay,

20:02he's Cameroonian, and then that's why I'm going with Francis. I love John Jones. I do. I do love

20:07John Jones so much. And I have to support my people. I have to go with Francis Nguno, I can't.

20:14You're going with Francis, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Right, right. If tomorrow, a hypothetical

20:19situation, if tomorrow you become the PM of the Prime Minister or the President of Cameroon,

20:25you're the head of the state, basically, for Cameroon. One thing that you'd like to change

20:28Cameroon, you know, to make it, of course, it's a beautiful country, to make it better,

20:34so to say. What would you do? One thing. I will, I will listen to the people, I will listen to the

20:40people, you know, the people, and I will listen to their voice and their opinion on how what they

20:43feel like needs to be, needs to be changed. Yeah. Right. Because I think the population that

20:50actually live in that country are the ones that are well-knowledged. Instead of just going about

20:54and deciding what you think is best. So, but that's what I think. That's what I think. Okay.

21:00This, I don't think it's a rapid-fire question. It shouldn't be a rapid-fire question. It will

21:04come very automatically for you. Which is your favourite boxing combo? And if you could also

21:09show it to us, for our viewers. My favourite combo is jab, is the jab. Okay. So it's not,

21:17so I like it when you rotate, you know, you rotate all the way out, rotate all the way to the jab.

21:22You can just win a, you can win a fight with just the jab. So that also helps you in keeping

21:26distance, right? The jab. Yes, it does. And it makes it simple for you. It makes you measure

21:31your opponent. If you find someone and you're always popping a jab on the face, that's annoying.

21:38You know, you can't, don't use the most simple things in boxing. If you watch Muhammad Ali,

21:43that's all he did. He just danced, jab, jab, jab, double the jab. Your favourite cheat food, I'm

21:48sure you of course have to maintain a good diet, but your favourite cheat food that you often do,

21:54and maybe which your coach also doesn't know, maybe at times. Well, my favourite cheat food,

22:00I don't really call it a cheat food. I think it's like a Cameroonian food. It's kondole. It's like

22:04legume mixed with peanut butter. And it's like a proper African food from Cameroon. It's very nice.

22:10I can eat it all day. Yeah. Okay. You can eat it with like rice or with couscous, but it's nice.

22:17Wow. Thank you so much, Cindy, for joining us. It's been such a privilege to have you with us.

22:25Like for every journey, there is a torchbearer. You're definitely a torchbearer. By winning the

22:29medal, representing the Olympic refugee team, you have only showed the athletes to come by that

22:36anything is possible in life, no matter how tough it is. I mean, you can only get tougher, you know,

22:42with tougher times. And you really showed to everyone around, you know, that no matter how

22:49difficult life is, you can still make a good life out of it. And you've already made a great life

22:54out of it, out of yourself, right? And please keep on doing your great stuff that you've been doing.

22:59Keep on shining. And there's more better things, greater things to come by, I'm sure. And we'll

23:07definitely, you know, keep a close watch to all your fights, to all your coming outs. And yes,

23:13thank you so much for coming in and all the best. Thank you very much for having me. Take care.

23:19Thanks, Cindy. Thank you so much. Thanks. Take care. Bye bye. Bye.

23:24Don't miss out. Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.

Breaking Barriers: Incredible Story of the First Olympic Refugee Team Medalist | Oneindia Exclusive

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