Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams
MBE

Adams in 2012
Personal information
Nationality British
Born 26 October 1982 (1982-10-26) (age 34)
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Height 5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Weight 8 st 13 lb (57 kg)
Sport
Sport Boxing
Rated at Bantamweight
Club Police Community Club
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 0 0
World Championships 1 3 0
European Championships 1 1 0
European Games 1 0 0
European Union Championships 2 0 0
Commonwealth Games 1 0 0
Total 8 4 0
Representing  Great Britain
Summer Olympics
2012 London Flyweight
2016 Rio de Janeiro Flyweight
World Championships
2016 Astana 51 kg
European Games
2015 Baku 51 kg
Representing  England
World Championships
2008 Ningbo 54 kg
2010 Bridgetown 51 kg
2012 Qinhuangdao 51 kg
Commonwealth Games
2014 Glasgow Flyweight
European Championships
2011 Rotterdam 51 kg
2007 Vejle 54 kg
European Union Championships
2011 Katowice 51 kg
2013 Keszthely 51 kg

Nicola Adams MBE (born 26 October 1982) is a British boxer. The first woman to win an Olympic boxing title, she is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist in the women's flyweight division. As of 27 May 2016 she is the reigning Olympic, World, Commonwealth Games and European Games champion at flyweight.[1]

Adams represented Haringey Police Community Club at boxing.[2] She 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.[3][4][5]

Personal life

Adams was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. She was educated at Agnes Stewart Church of England High School, Ebor Gardens, Leeds.[6][7] She also went to Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale.[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 soap operas 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]

At the 2016 Rio Olympic games Adams successfully defended her Olympic title against Sarah Ourahmoune of France on 20 August, becoming the first ever female boxer to defend an Olympic title in two consecutive games and the first British boxer to defend an Olympic title in 92 years; the last to do so being Harry Mallin in 1924.[23]

Honours

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
2016 Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 51 kg

In 2012 she became the first female boxer to receive an award from the Boxing Writers' Club of Great Britain.[24][24] Specifically, she was awarded the Joe Bromley Award for outstanding services to boxing.[24] She was also the first woman ever to be invited to the club's awards ceremony.[24]

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing.[25][26]

In 2015 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Leeds.[27]

Awards

In 2016 Adams was named Number One in the DIVA Power List of the UK's most eminent lesbian and bisexual women

Athletics

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Nicola Adams: British fighter wins world flyweight gold". BBC Sport. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 "One hundred hopefuls for 2012". London: The Guardian. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "Nicola Adams Makes Olympic Boxing History". Sky News. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "London Olympics: Nicola Adams wins first ever women boxing gold". The Times Of India. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Bi Olympian Nicola Adams given MBE in New Year honours list". Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Made in Leeds: How Nicola Adams grew to the brink of Olympic glory". Yorkshire Evening Post. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "How Nicola Adams got her fighting chance for an Olympic gold medal". ITV News. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "FE students add to Team GB Olympic medal haul". FE Week. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Khaleeli, Homa (9 August 2014). "Nicola Adams: 'It always felt like boxing was my path'". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "UK sport stars top 2012 Pink List". Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 "Nicola Adams, World Championship Silver Medallist" (PDF). GSE Agency. 5 February 2005. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  12. ↑ "Adams' excitement hitting fever pitch". Bradford Telegraph & Argus. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  13. ↑ "Marshall and Adams miss out on gold". BBC Sport (video available in UK only). 18 September 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  14. ↑ Rojas, John-Paul Ford (8 August 2012). "Fighter Nicola Adams battles her way to chance at gold". London: www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Nicola Adams: trailblazer for women's boxing wins historic gold". London: The Guardian. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Boxer Nicola Adams confident of London 2012 gold". BBC Sport. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  17. ↑ Creighton, Jessica (27 July 2011). "London 2012: Promising Britons to watch in the Olympics". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  18. ↑ Bakowski, Gregg (8 August 2012). "Nicola Adams beats Mary Kom to reach 51kg Olympic final". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  19. ↑ "Nicola Adams beats India's Mary Kom to reach Olympic flyweight final". The Guardian. London. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  20. ↑ "Olympics boxing: Great Britain's Nicola Adams wins historic gold". BBC Sport. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  21. ↑ "Glasgow 2014: Nicola Adams beats Michaela Walsh to gold". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Nicola Adams". Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  23. ↑ Burrowa, Thomas; Fagge, Nick (20 August 2016). "'I've made history!' Nicola Adams wins gold as she becomes the first Briton to defend an Olympic boxing title in 92 years". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Nicola Adams becomes first female boxer honoured by writers". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  25. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60367. p. 24. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  26. ↑ "2013 New Year's Honours" (PDF). Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  27. ↑ "University of Leeds awards honorary degrees". University of Leeds. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  28. ↑

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