Strictly no tears
Nic: I’ve got no regrets over quitting the ring
EX-BOXER Nicola Adams claims she’d never have broken down and cried like Andy Murray when he revealed plans to retire last year. The 37-year-old, who has signed up for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, announced her own retirement last November – after she tore her pupil in a fight. And while Andy didn’t retire from tennis, it seems big girls don’t cry. Nicola said: “Andy is very much about his tennis but I have other things I want to do outside of sport. “I miss the camaraderie and the banter but it’s actually nice not to have a coach screaming in my ear. “I can go on holiday and drink cocktails or eat pizza and ice cream. I won everything there was to win and I retired undefeated, so I have no regrets.”
Nicola, from Leeds, was the first woman to win a boxing Olympic gold in London in 2012, adding a second gold at Rio in 2016.
And she is still blazing a trail for women, as part of Strictly’s first-ever same-sex couple.
While not confirmed, it’s been reported she will dance with Katya Jones. Nicola, whose girlfriend is beauty blogger Ella Baig, claimed she wasn’t thinking of making history when she agreed to appear in the show, which starts on Saturday.
In an interview with Radio Times, she said: “I wish I could say it’s because I wanted to be a role model but it didn’t even cross my mind at the start.”
Nicola says her appearance on the show will probably bring complaints.
She added: “I’m expecting the same sort of thing I got with women’s boxing in the beginning – there will always be some resisters, but once they know you’re here to stay, they get used to it.
“This is 2020. We have to move with the times.
“So someone’s going to comment on Twitter? It’s nothing, it won’t faze me.”
Read the full interview in Radio Times, out now.