Nicola Adams - Believe: Boxing, Olympics and My Life Outside the Ring

Nicola Adams with
Jordan Paramor

---

BELIEVE

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

India | New Zealand | South Africa

Viking is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

First published 2017

Copyright Nicola Adams and Jordan Paramor, 2017

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover photography by Chris Terry

ISBN: 978-0-241-98054-5

And the winner is

As I raised my fist into the air and listened to the crowd screaming my name, I knew my life would never be the same again. I had just beaten my arch-rival Ren Cancan in the London Olympics and become the first woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal for boxing. Id made history and it felt incredible.

Id like to say what happened on 9 August 2012 came as a big surprise to me, but Id be lying. Ive known since I was thirteen years old that, one day, I would be standing in a boxing ring having just made history.

I may have come up against a lot of adversity and been challenged with some serious injuries along the way but I always knew Id make it somehow. I had the determination, the skills and the focus. And most importantly, I believed I would.

If youd told me when I was eleven years old that Id become a world-champion boxer one day, I would have laughed at you. At that age I was more interested in climbing trees and winding up my brother, Kurtis. I was just a normal kid who went on to have very big dreams.

I was born at St Jamess Hospital in Leeds at 7.20 a.m. on 26 October 1982. I weighed in at 7lb 12oz, which, considering Im now only 5 foot 4, is pretty sturdy.

I was a real mummys girl when I was very young, and I still am, but my mum is the only person in the world whos allowed to call me that. I didnt like anyone apart from her holding me and I used to go mad if anyone else tried to pick me up. I also cried a lot, which seems weird, because Im really not a crier at all these days. It takes a lot to get me emotional.

My mum, Dee, said I was a happy baby and a mischievous toddler and always getting into some kind of bother. And while I may have cried a lot, I also smiled a lot, which is something thats continued to this day. People often comment on the fact that Im always smiling and, because I was so cheerful, my mum signed me up with a local modelling agency and I started doing some jobs here and there. I didnt do it for very long because my parents were both working and I was being asked to go to Scotland for shoots and all sorts and it became really hard work getting me from place to place.

I began to suffer very badly from eczema as a young child so my mum was always worrying about me. Once, when I was tiny, she left me in my cot to run downstairs and get something and when she came back Id scratched my arms so badly they wouldnt stop bleeding and she had to take me to hospital to get checked out. Id somehow got my scratch mittens off and my skin was so raw the doctors said it looked like I had a serious burn.

I had to have cream on my skin at all times and I was so good at getting my scratch mittens off my doctor told my mum to get a pair of socks over them on my hands and attach them around my back with elastic to keep them in place. It was the only way she could be sure I could be left alone for more than five minutes without scratching myself.

I was allergic to all dairy products when I was a baby so my mum had to feed me on soya milk once I stopped breastfeeding. She tried me on formula, like most mums do, but I kept being sick and eventually they discovered that I was allergic to all sorts of things. As I got older and tried different foods things got worse, and by the time I was three I was basically allergic to life. I was allergic to nuts, fish, chocolate, dairy products you name it. Thankfully, the only thing Im still allergic to now is nuts, but my allergy is pretty severe.

Mum first found out I was allergic to nuts one Christmas when she fed me a tiny bit and I came up in this bright red stinging-nettle-type rash.

If I ate the wrong thing I was sick or went into shock. Once, I ended up in hospital after eating some chocolate. The only way my mum could find out what was wrong with me was by feeding me small amounts of foods. It was a process of elimination, and all she could do was try me out with everything and see how Id react.

At that point, a rash or vomiting were the only side effects, but as time went on my reaction became worse, to the point where, if I ingested nuts by mistake, my throat would close up and Id become really breathless. It was a nightmare, because my mum had to keep an eye on me at all times, and once I started nursery and then went on to school she had to let all of my teachers know about my allergies.

Of course, she also had to educate me about what I couldnt eat, so I didnt share food with the other kids. She had to make me special meals, and I used to hate eating different things to the rest of my classmates. I was probably the only kid who actually wanted to eat school dinners, but everything was too risky.

There came a time when I was able to eat school dinners if they were closely monitored and very simple. But even though I was grateful for this, I hated the fact that the teachers made you stay and eat it all, even if you didnt like it. Theyd watch you and only let you get down when youd finished.

One day when I was about six I had a proper stand-off with a teacher because I was given mushy peas and I hated them. I ended up sitting at the table all lunchtime because I flatly refused to eat them, so I think its safe to say I was pretty strong-willed, even at a very young age. I sat there crying because I wanted to go and play with my friends, and in the end the teacher had to let me go because I had a class to get to, and I was so pleased, because I felt like Id won. It may only have been a small victory but it was one of my first, and even something as silly as that gave me a buzz.

After that day, I realized that the teachers couldnt force me to eat anything I didnt like. I had the power! I got smart quickly and the teachers soon learnt that, no matter how long they made me stare at my plate of food, I wouldnt give in. I knew that if I sat there long enough I would be victorious. Once I became aware of that, I never cried about my lunch again, I just stood my ground.

I developed asthma when I was about three or four, and that was also a big worry for my mum. I remember when it started really clearly. I was in bed and I suddenly found it hard to breathe. I felt like a baby elephant was stood on my chest and my mum was really worried about me so she took me to hospital. (I was a bit of a regular at Leeds General.) They diagnosed me as having serious asthma and gave me an inhaler. They also told my mum I wouldnt be able to run around for a while, and that really upset me because I was at that age where everyone at school was playing tag and bulldog and I wasnt allowed to join in. After a couple of days of being really good and watching from the sidelines I got really bored, so I started playing with everyone again. Im not sure it was the most sensible thing to do, but you try telling a four-year-old they cant play with their mates!