Nicola Adams announces retirement: “I didn’t let anyone deter me from my Olympic dream”

. Today we remember the sporting icon’s achievements, looking back to when she spoke toThe date is 20 April 2016, and boxer Nicola Adams doesn’t walk into the room, she breezes. She’s carrying a sports bag that dwarfs her, yet bounds around the team, shaking hands and dispensing the mega-watt smile that has become her calling card , with a nigh-on feline poise. In fact, she has a grace that makes everyone else in the room look a bit lumpen.

“Everyone always asks how I deal with the pressure, but I just do”, she says at one point, followed by a peel of infectious laughter. “I’m a positive person,” she agrees. A year later, Adams still hadn’t boxed. She could barely jog, let alone dance around the canvas, and punching was out of the question. As the last trial for the Team GB squad loomed, she was warned it was her final chance of qualifying. Unable to let her dream slip away she went back to the ring, using morphine patches and painkillers to “just do it.” Amazingly, the coaches saw her potential and she qualified for the team.

The secret to her success, as it turns out, isn’t that complex: it’s ‘train hard, train often.’ “From 7am to 7pm, five days a week,” she says. “Each day starts with a three-mile run, then sprints – which get more intensive each week. I’m never comfortable in training, pain barriers are always being broken. It’s the only way to improve, it’s not pleasant,” she laughs.

Before a fight, Adams uses her Olympic podium moment to visualise success. “I remember feeling happy, overwhelmed and relieved. Before I go into the ring now, I just imagine winning, feeling that all over again. And when I’ve done that I try to stay relaxed – I’ll have Drake Summer Sixteen on and joke with my team.”

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Source: BBCNews - 🏆 3. / 97 Read more »

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