Happy Birthday to British Boxer, Olympic Gold Medalist Nicola Adams

Nicola Adams was born today, October 26, in 1982.  She is a British professional boxer. The first woman to win an Olympic boxing title, she is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist in the women's flyweight division.

She is openly bisexual, and was named the most influential LGBT person in Britain by The Independent in 2012. She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is engaged to fellow female boxer Marlen Esparza. 

Adams was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. She fought (and won) her first bout at the age of 13, but it was 4 years before she found a second opponent. In 2001, she became the first woman boxer ever to represent England, in a fight against an Irish boxer. In 2003, she became English amateur champion for the first time, and she retained the title at the next 3 championships.

In 2007, Adams was the first English female to win a medal in a major tournament, taking Silver in the bantamweight (54kg) division at the European Championships in Denmark. She won Silver again at the world championships in 2008. The following year she had to abstain from the sport for several months due to a back injury, but she returned to success at the 2010 world championships taking Silver again, competing now at flyweight (51kg). 

Adams struggled to continue her boxing career due to lack of funds. She worked as an acting extra on soap operas such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and EastEnders, and worked as a builder before the International Olympic Committee backed funding for women’s boxing in 2009.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honors, also for services to boxing.