She was first introduced to the sport of boxing by her father. He would show her videos of Mohammed Ali, who became a huge inspiration for Adams. She started going to her local boxing gym at the age of 12 and from then she was hooked.
It was not until 2001 that Nicola Adams represented England for the first time. She became the first female boxer to do so...
...and the first one to win.
In the years that followed Adams gained the title of English amateur boxing champion, which she managed to retain for three years afterwards. She went on to win silver in the European championships in 2007, and also won silver at the world championships in 2008.
Adams admitted that she often struggled financially to support her boxing, so had to take a break for several months before she could compete again. In the few years after this, she went on to achieve perhaps the biggest accomplishment in her career.
The London 2012 Olympics. Nicola Adams was competing in the flyweight category in hopes to win an Olympic gold in her own country. With the support of the UK behind her, Adam’s beat China’s Ren Cancan to secure her position as the first women’s boxing Olympic Gold medallist.
In the years between 2012 and 2016 Adams won the Commonwealth games title in Glasgow and won gold in the European Championships in Baku. When the 2016 Rio Olympics came around Adams again got the gold, making history in becoming the first double gold Olympic woman's boxer.
By doing this, she secured her place as a legend of the sport.
In 2017, Adams went professional and went on to win 5 of her 6 professional fights with a record of five wins, 3 of which by TKO and one draw (an incredibly impressive record, if you ask me). Adams retired from professional boxing in 2019 after retaining a serious eye injury which, if provoked, would’ve resulted in her losing her eye.
Nicola Adams had an incredible sporting career and made a huge impact on the boxing world. Her success and determination spurred on a new generation of women boxers from the UK and showed just how important women are to the sport. Adams is a prime example of how, if you really want something, you can get it if you just try hard enough.
A true sporting legend who really made boxing history
