Ngamba, 26, was born in Cameroon but moved to England 15 years ago. GB Boxing wanted to pick her for its Olympic squad, but she does not have a British passport. Instead she qualified for the IOC refugee team by winning a tournament in Italy and was officially named among its 36 athletes yesterday.
She is the first refugee athlete to make the Olympics boxing tournament, and the first in any sport to earn a place in the Games by qualification rather than selection. "We had a little celebration in Olympic House when we learned about her qualification," said the IOC president, Thomas Bach.
"Cindy has a lot of fans here." Ngamba is unable to return to Cameroon because she is gay, which remains a crime there. She has been through school and university in the UK, and has a degree in criminology.
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