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ICOLA ADAMS is one of the sweetest, giggliest, most upbeat people you could ever wish to meet, all sparkling eyes and that famously Olympic-sized grin.

She hasn’t got a bad word to say about anyone, least of all her Twitter trolls: “Even if they’re saying bad stuff, they’ve actually still taken time out of their day to write you that, so I guess in a way they’re still fans,” she says, giggling.

But beneath that bubbly exterior is a steely determination that has seen her become, in her own words, “the most accomplished amateur boxer in Britain that we’ve had, male or female”.

The reigning Olympic, World, Commonwealth Games and European Games flyweight boxing champion, Nicola, who has now turned pro, became the first female boxing Olympic champion in 2012.

Achieving Olympic gold was something she knew would happen from her teens, and she retained her title in Rio last year. Her autobiography, Believe, distils just how ‘the baby-faced assassin’ was shaped, learning to fight both inside and outside the ring.

It’s clear from the book that she’s her mum Dee’s biggest fan and today says her incredible self-belief comes from her.

“She worked so hard, was a single parent, raising two kids and working two jobs to help with funding me and looking after my brother. She always used to say, ‘If you work hard, you can achieve anything’ and I’ve always believed it. It shows today, two Olympic gold medals later.”

Born in Leeds in 1982, Nicola grew up on a council estate with younger brother Kurtis. Despite being plagued with allergies, eczema and asthma, it didn’t stop her from doing what she wanted.

“I remember being told that, having asthma, I shouldn’t really be running around and playing with the other kids, but at five years old, you can’t tell a kid to sit down and not play, so I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m going to have fun and try new things’.

“So I guess I’ve always had that determined attitude,” says the 34-year-old, in her familiar Yorkshire accent.

When she was 11, her parents separated. In the book, she says it was a relief, as “mum had put up with a lot”. One of her earliest memories was stepping in front of her mum with a plastic sword, aged just three or four, trying to protect