Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams MBE
Statistics
Rated at	112lbs (50.8kg)
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nationality	United Kingdom
Born	26 October 1982 (age 31) Leeds, United Kingdom
Medal record Competitor for  United Kingdom Women’s Boxing Summer Olympics Gold 2012 London Flyweight Competitor for  England World Amateur Championships Silver 2012 Qinhuangdao 51 kg Silver 2010 Bridgetown 51 kg Silver 2008 Ningbo 54 kg European Amateur Championships Silver 2007 Vejle 54 kg European Union Amateur Championships Gold 2011 Katowice 51 kg

Nicola Adams, MBE is the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title. She's a British boxer, and Gold Medal winner at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London. She is also a cast-member.

Adams represented Haringey Police Community Club at boxing,^[1] As of July 2012 (and before the London Summer Olympic Games), she was rated World Number Two in the Flyweight (51kg) division, behind Chinese world champion Ren Cancan.^[2]

On 9 August 2012, Adams also became first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[3][4][5]

Personal life

Adams was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.^[6][7] She was educated at Agnes Stewart Church of England High School, Burmantofts, Leeds.^[8] She has previously worked as a builder and as an extra on Coronation street. In November 2012, she topped the list of The Independent's 101 most influential LGBT people in Britain for 2012.^[9] On 31 October 2013, she guest starred as herself in an episode of the ninth series of BBC award-winning television drama, Waterloo Road.

Career

Adams fought (and won) her first bout at the age 13, but it was four years before she found a second opponent.^[10] In 2001, she became the first woman boxer ever to represent England, in a fight against an Irish boxer.^[10] In 2003, she became English amateur champion for the first time,^[1] and she retained the title at the next 3 championships.^[10]

In 2007, Adams was the first English female to win a medal in a major tournament, taking Silver in the bantamweight (54kg) division at the European Championships in Denmark. She won Silver again at the world championships in Ningbo, China in 2008. The following year she had to abstain from the sport for several months due to a back injury,^[11] but she returned to success at the 2010 world championships in Bridgetown, Barbados,^[12] taking Silver again, competing now at flyweight (51kg). Adams struggled to continue her boxing career due to lack of funds. She worked as an acting extra on soaps such as Coronation Street and EastEnders and worked as a builder before the International Olympic Committee backed funding for women’s boxing in 2009.^[13]

In November 2010, Adams was victorious in the first ever GB Amateur Boxing Championship at the Echo Arena Liverpool.^[14] In 2011, she won Gold at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in Katowice.^[15] In July 2011, the BBC included Adams in a feature on "6 Promising Britons to watch in the Olympics".^[6]

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Adams defeated Mary Kom from India in the Flyweight semi-final.^[16][17] She went on to defeat Chinese boxer and world number one Ren Cancan in the final to claim the first Olympic women's boxing Gold medal in history.^[18]

Honours

Postboxes on Cookridge Street in Leeds painted gold in honour of Adams' Olympic Gold medal win.

In 2012 she became the first female boxer to receive an award from the Boxing Writers' Club of Great Britain.^[19][19] Specifically, she was awarded the Joe Bromley Award for outstanding services to boxing.^[19] She was also the first woman ever to be invited to the club's awards ceremony.^[19]

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing.^[20][21]

Awards

Athletics

• BBC Sport's Personality of the Year, nominee
• Joe Bromley Award

Other honours

• Member of the Order of the British empire

See also

• 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nicola Adams.