Nicola Adams

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Nicola Adams
MBE
File:Nicola Adams - Our Greatest Team Parade.jpg
Personal information
Nickname(s) Baby Faced assassin
Nationality British
Born 26 October 1982 (1982-10-26) (age 42)
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Height 5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Weight 125 lb (57 kg)
Sport
Sport Boxing
Rated at Bantamweight
Club Police Community Club

Nicola Adams, MBE (born 26 October 1982) is an English and British boxer and the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title. The gold medal winner at flyweight at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, as of 27 May 2016 she is the reigning Olympic, World, Commonwealth Games and European Games champion at flyweight.[1] She was the first ever female boxing champion at both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Adams represented Haringey Police Community Club at boxing,[2] 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.[3]

Adams is openly bisexual, and was named the most influential LGBT person in Britain by The Independent in 2012. She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[4][5][6]

Personal life

Adams was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. She was educated at Agnes Stewart Church of England High School, Ebor Gardens, Leeds.[7][8] In November 2012, she topped the list of The Independent's 101 most influential LGBT people in Britain for 2012.[9][10]

Career

Adams fought (and won) her first bout at the age of 13, but it was four years before she found a second opponent.[11] In 2001, she became the first woman boxer ever to represent England, in a fight against an Irish boxer.[11] In 2003, she became English amateur champion for the first time,[2] and she retained the title at the next 3 championships.[11]

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,[12] but she returned to success at the 2010 world championships in Bridgetown, Barbados,[13] 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 Emmerdale and EastEnders and worked as a builder before the International Olympic Committee backed funding for women’s boxing in 2009.[14]

In November 2010, Adams was victorious in the first ever GB Amateur Boxing Championship at the Echo Arena Liverpool.[15] In 2011, she won Gold at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in Katowice.[16] In July 2011, the BBC included Adams in a feature on "6 Promising Britons to watch in the Olympics".[17]

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Adams defeated Mary Kom from India in the Flyweight semi-final.[18][19] 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.[20]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Adams beat Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland to take the gold medal in the women's flyweight division on a split decision.[21][22]

Honours

File:Nicola Adams' gold post box in Leeds (Taken by Flickr user 11th September 2012).jpg
Postboxes on Cookridge Street in Leeds painted gold in honour of Adams' Olympic Gold medal win.
Year Tournament Venue Result Event
2007 European Amateur Championships Vejle, Denmark 2nd 54 kg
2008 World Amateur Championship Ningbo, People's Republic of China 2nd 54 kg
2010 World Amateur Championship Bridgetown, Barbados 2nd 51 kg
2011 European Union Amateur Championships Katowice, Poland 1st 51 kg
2011 European Amateur Championships Rotterdam, the Netherlands 1st 51 kg
2012 World Amateur Championship Qinhuangdao, China 2nd 51 kg
2012 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom 1st 51 kg
2013 European Union Amateur Championships Keszthely, Hungary 1st 51 kg
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, United Kingdom 1st 51 kg
2015 European Games Baku, Azerbaijan 1st 51 kg
2016 World Amateur Championship Astana, Kazakhstan 1st 51 kg

In 2012 she became the first female boxer to receive an award from the Boxing Writers' Club of Great Britain.[23][23] Specifically, she was awarded the Joe Bromley Award for outstanding services to boxing.[23] She was also the first woman ever to be invited to the club's awards ceremony.[23]

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing.[24][25]

In 2015 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Leeds.[26]

Awards

Athletics

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

See also

References

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External links

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  24. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60367. p. 24. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
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