How Olympic hero Nicola Adams inspired next generation of British women boxers - 'She is the person who showed us all it’s possible'

On the wall of the Sheffield gym where members of the British boxing team train, there is a portrait of the fighter who has legitimate claim to be the most influential of this or any other generation. 

At the end of a line of pictures of British Olympic medallists is one of the double champion Nicola Adams, smiling in victory. And while she may have left the operation to make her way in the professional game, Adams’ influence still lingers in every punch being thrown by the British fighters readying themselves for the forthcoming AIBA Women’s Boxing World Championships in New Delhi, which start tomorrow. 

For most of those pummelling the bags and ducking blows in the sparring ring, she is more than just a role model. Adams is the very reason they are here.

“She’s a real inspiration,” says Ebonie Jones, the 20-year-old soldier from Portsmouth who will be competing in Adams’ flyweight category this weekend. “I did get to spar with her when I was younger, it was really good, such a great experience. A privilege to share a ring with her.”

Adams’ influence is everywhere in the gym. Take Lauren Price, the most experienced fighter in a young squad, who won a middleweight gold medal for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Australia earlier this year.

“Nicola is absolutely massive for all of us,” she says. “She is the person who showed us all it’s possible.”

Price’s own career demonstrates what a beacon Adams was. Encouraged to take up kickboxing as a child by the grandfather who brought her up from infancy, the young Price proved a sharp fighter. But her ambition quickly outstripped the possibilities of her early pursuit. “Kickboxing’s not a Commonwealth or Olympic sport, I knew if I wanted to get on – and I did - I had to move on.”

She discovered football in her early teens and, strong, tall and powerful, was soon picked up by Cardiff City. “I think the kickboxing helped,” she reckons. “For a start I could kick a ball a lot further than any of my team mates.”

A brave centre-back, her football career took off, and she was picked for Wales at just 16 and went on to win 52 full international caps.

“I think I might have had a higher pain threshold than everyone else. I remember when I got this,” she says, pointing to the scar running down the middle of her forehead. “It was the Welsh Cup final against Swansea and I whacked myself on the top of the striker’s head. She was rolling around on the floor crying. I just got up ready to carry on. All my team mates were like ‘look at the state of you’. I had this great big gash hanging out my head, there was blood everywhere. I hadn’t even noticed.”

But it was when she saw Adams win gold at the London Olympics that a light seemed to go on. Her ambition switched immediately to the boxing ring.

“For a while I boxed and played football. Then the 2014 Commonwealth Games came into view and it was pretty obvious if I was going to aim for that I had to train full time. And the Olympics had always been my goal in life; it wasn’t certain there’d ever be a GB football team.”

Her decision to follow the path of her idol quickly proved inspired. She won a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Like the Irish gold medal winning boxer Katie Taylor, she found a football background was of great assistance in the ring, even if the fitness demands are greater.

“Ring fitness is something else," she says. "Really there’s nothing like it. And the other thing I found was that on the pitch, you have 10 people watching your back. In the ring, you’re on your own. Soon as the bell goes, you are totally alone. The adrenalin, the nerves, the excitement are unbelievable. You think sometimes as you stand there before a bout: why am I doing this? Then you get the first shot in and the nerves go. And it’s the best feeling in the world when your arm’s raised in victory.”

While she missed the cut for the GB team for Rio, she proved herself to be a proper contender in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. Now she is heading to Delhi hoping to lay down a marker for the Olympics in two summers time.

“They say you are at your best at 25 or 26, which is what I’ll be in Tokyo,” she says. “I don’t know if that’s true, we’ll see. But what I do know is this year has been the highlight of my career, even out of football the lot. Australia was fantastic. Not just winning the gold, the whole experience, the training, the sparring, being with the team. Best of all was standing on the podium listening to the anthem. That just done it for me. I want a lot more of that.”

And if she does pull it off in Delhi, if she does feel the same rush of excitement, like her team mates she will know who to thank.

“When I’m asked I always say my boxing hero is Mike Tyson,” she says. “But like everyone else, I’m really only getting this chance because of what Nicola did.”