I’M NOT TOO OLD FOR GOLD
Nicola Adams on her rumble in Rio
NICOLA ADAMS is 33, could easily pass for 10 years younger and, worryingly for her rivals, insists she is only getting better with age with another Olympic gold in her sights.
She is hot favourite to become the first woman to defend an Olympic boxing title next month, having claimed her first AIBA world championships flyweight title in Kazakhstan in May. But expectation is not weighing heavy on her slim but powerful shoulders.
‘I see it as a bonus going in as favourite,’ she says. ‘I like the fact everybody thinks that I’m capable of winning a gold medal, it gives me confidence to think I can go out and achieve that. So as long as I carry on working hard and listening to the coaches then I should do it.
‘I feel I’m better than I was in London because boxing is a sport where you’re always learning, you’re never the finished article,’ she adds, ‘You can always be faster, always be stronger, you can always be a more technical fighter and that’s what I love about it.
‘It’s not like running and swimming where it’s just based on that really fast time and beating everyone else and the older you get the worse you’re going to be. I feel a lot more experienced and wellbalanced than four years ago — a lot quicker and from experience I’m able to adapt better to different opponents.’
She claims not to have changed as a person since winning gold at London 2012 and her easy smile, natural warmth and strong Leeds accent remain.
But Adams now has that celebrity glow; the neat braids of four years ago replaced by a fashionable mohawk and green contact lenses lend her eyes an extra glint.
In the most recent issue of Vogue magazine she is the subject of a glamorous photoshoot and recently fronted a campaign for Panache sports bras.
‘I’m still the same Nicola,’ she says. ‘But you get to do some cool things: movie awards and music shows so it’s good. I always wanted to be a boxer, be an Olympic champion but I had no idea about the exciting things I’d be able to do, I had no idea I’d be in Vogue one day.
‘But it’s definitely good to show the different image of women’s boxing. I really enjoy fashion so I like doing photoshoots, modelling and a bit of acting as well. It’s nice to be able to do some of that. I might like to design my own clothes in the future, who knows.’
AT the Team GB preparation camp in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, all the boxers are required to wear identical uniforms right down to their branded undergarments.
But when she’s back home in east London, where she has recently bought a home, or in Sheffield where she trains four days a week, Adams enjoys shopping for designer clothes and expensive trainers.
Adams is also a student of her sport, watching YouTube videos of her favourite boxers — Muhammad Ali and the Cuban double Olympic bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux.
‘I’m always watching footage of other boxers,’ she says. ‘It was quite a shock for me when Muhammad Ali died, it was more because I never got to meet him before he passed. He was my hero growing up, he meant so much to me and was the reason why I wanted to win a gold medal.
‘People think you get in the ring and it’s just about throwing punches but there’s a lot more involved than that. There’s a lot of technique involved and you’re always trying to make your opponent make mistakes. It’s like a game of chess, there’s a lot of thinking involved.’
There are a lot of sacrifices made, too. Every morning from Monday to Thursday she wakes before the sun has risen to do a three-mile run before heading to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield to do a gruelling gym session, then sparring. ‘I train three times a day, five days a week,’ she says.
‘You miss birthdays, you miss going out clubbing with your friends, weddings and christenings. But when you see the end product, standing on top of the podium, you’re the best in the world and crowned Olympic champion, it’s all worth it.’