Guillaume Junior Atangana becomes first ever refugee athlete to win World Para Athletics Championships title

“I am a World champion finally. We have been working hard for this,” Atangana, who runs with his guide Donard Ndim Nyamjua, told The Indian Express.

Originally from Cameroon, Atangana is an economic refugee who left his country due to lack of chances to compete at the global level.

A decade long journey

Aspiring to be a footballer like many kids in Cameroon, Atangana took the sport seriously and started playing football. However, disaster struck at the age of eight when his vision started to deteriorate due to a botched malaria medication.

“He lost his sight due to an allergic reaction to malaria drugs. The reaction affected his nervous system that resulted in him losing his eyesight completely,” said Donard.

By the age of 12, Atangana was completely blind. Despite being blind, Atangana never left sports. “After I lost my sight, many of my friends contacted me and they told me that I can still try doing para sports,” said Atangana.

Listening to all the suggestions that could allow him to follow his dream of sporting excellence, Atangana turned to Para Athletics in 2016.”I started para athletics in 2016 and continued playing across the world but I never won any medal. But I decided not to give up,” said Atangana.

Lack of opportunities

Despite finishing fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the 400m T11 event, Atangana’s career was going nowhere.

After competing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and frustrated with lack of sporting ambitions at home, Atangana along with his guide decided to move to England.“I left my home country for better chances and moved to England. But after moving to England, I lost all my papers and after that my guide was also injured,” said Atangana.

Disaster had struck when Atangana and his guide lost their papers during the transition which meant that they were under an administration impasse. A move meant to benefit their careers took another disastrous turn as Donard was injured.

“It was a barrage of setbacks. I think it was easy to give up at that time but I believed in God and kept doing my hard work,” Atangana said. He stuck with his guide despite his injury and joined Keighley and Skipton (BKS) Disability Athletics Club under coach Janet-Alison Arkwright, who has been working with them since their arrival in the nation as asylum-seekers.

But as the cliche goes, the duo found light at the end of the tunnel when they were selected as the flag-bearers for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He went on to clinch the bronze medal at the show-piece and earned a call from Buckingham Palace to meet the king and celebrate with him.

“As I say always, my Paris bronze medal is worth the gold. It is the hope for the refugees around the world,” Atangana concluded.