In a drawer somewhere in Cameroon, thousands of miles away, there may be an Olympic medal that Madias Ngake has never held.

Ngake won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, upgraded from her original sixth-place finish when three athletes above her were later disqualified for doping. But she never went home to collect it. She never went home at all.

That year, Ngake was 20 years old and competing as a weightlifter for Cameroon. During the Games, her sexuality became known. In Cameroon, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment. She says she lived in genuine fear for her life.

"I'm a lesbian, I love women and it's not allowed in Cameroon," Ngake says. "I had to stay here for me to have a good future, good life and not hurt myself if I decide to have a girlfriend."

She disappeared from the athletes' village. With no money, no friends, and no home, she spent her first two months in England sleeping on buses and outdoors. She had planned to return home after the Olympics. Instead, she was building an entirely new life from nothing.

"When I decided to stay, sometimes I would sleep on the bus, but when the bus stopped, I would sleep outside," she recalls. "When I wanted to have a shower, I would maybe find a place outside, in public, so to change myself was not too easy."

Ngake applied for asylum and was eventually granted permission to stay. It took nearly five years before she could legally work. She spent nine years working as an office cleaner in Nottingham.

Sport was the last thing on her mind. She had grown up in Douala, Cameroon's largest city, where she found a talent for weightlifting that she hoped would help change how people saw women in sport. At age 18, she competed at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and finished fourth. She passed out after a successful lift and left on a stretcher, but she still smiles when she remembers the achievement.

"Not just anybody can qualify for a Commonwealth Games," she says. "It means you're strong and, can I say, special?"

Now 34 years old and based in Nottingham, Ngake is about to make a remarkable comeback. She will compete for England at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, an achievement made possible by her years of rebuilding in Britain. She recently won a European bronze medal for Great Britain.

"This moment means a lot to me," Ngake says. "For Team England to have given me this second opportunity, it is amazing."