Nicola Adams Quotes

Nothing ever stops me smiling, apart from getting beat in the ring.

- Nicola Adams

Boxing is like chess. You encourage your opponent to make mistakes so you can capitalise on it. People think you get in the ring and see the red mist, but it's not about aggression. Avoiding getting knocked out is tactical.

- Nicola Adams

Anger is an unnecessary emotion. Loads of stuff in life can trigger it, but what matters is how you react. I choose not to react.

- Nicola Adams

Our boxing is not like the men's. It's more thoughtful, more technical. It's not just, 'Get in there and hurt someone.'

- Nicola Adams

Spiders keep me awake at night. If I see one that's too big to get under a glass, there will be big problems. I'll spend the rest of the day feeling like I'm being terrorised by this missing spider.

- Nicola Adams

Muhammad Ali meant everything to me. He inspired me to box after watching re-runs of him winning a gold medal in the Olympics and being a world champion.

- Nicola Adams

No one's ever really cared about me being bisexual, and I only came out because I had always been out; it's just the general public didn't know. I'm quite fearless. I'm like, 'Let's just go out there and do this and see what happens.'

- Nicola Adams

Women boxers prefer to focus on the win rather than the bravado. We've come a long way. In the '90s, you only ever saw women parading in heels and a bikini holding a scorecard. Now we're owning it; we should get some male models in Speedos to do the ring walk.

- Nicola Adams

I train for at least two hours, three times a day - weights, bench-press, push-ups, running, sparring, boxing sessions - so I must be burning off a lot of calories. But I don't weigh myself too often - just once every day.

- Nicola Adams

To finally become world champion after losing out in three previous finals is very satisfying. It shows that if you stick to your goals and work hard, you can achieve them in the end.

- Nicola Adams

I got my inspiration when I sat down with my father, at about eight or nine years old, and watched 'The Rumble in the Jungle.'

- Nicola Adams

I'm like a 'comeback kid' - you can't keep me down for long!

- Nicola Adams

I only went into a gym by accident. My mum couldn't get a babysitter and wanted to do aerobics, so she took me and Kurtis, my younger brother, down to the gym. There was an after-school boxing class on with some of the kids from school. There weren't any other girls there, but I didn't mind. I loved it.

- Nicola Adams

Yes, I'm always keeping my eye on trends and designers. With certain favourites, I can tell you what season an item of clothing is from. I've been to a few catwalk shows, and I love seeing how the clothes look on a person.

- Nicola Adams

Everybody wants that spot: everybody wants to beat Nicola Adams. Everybody wants to be the Olympic champion; everybody wants to beat the Olympic champion. It's made me train that much harder and stay that much more focused. I guess, in a way, I've got them to thank for keeping me motivated and focused on the job I need to do.

- Nicola Adams

At the 2012 Olympics, there was a nutritionist in the food hall telling us, 'Eat that. And eat that.' After winning my gold, I went to McDonald's for chicken nuggets and a strawberry milkshake, but that was just for the hell of it. I don't feel hungry after a match, to be honest.

- Nicola Adams

I love shopping, but I only really have time to do it online.

- Nicola Adams

A couple of weeks after the Olympics, I thought I'd pop down to my local supermarket and do some grocery shopping. One person came up to me in the frozen food aisle, and that was it. I was mobbed, and I had to leave my shopping. Now, I either shop online or go very late at night when the supermarket's nearly empty.

- Nicola Adams

There is so much to learn from boxing, you can never have learnt everything; anybody who says they know it all is lying. You can't - there is always something new to learn.

- Nicola Adams

All I want is to keep boxing for Great Britain and inspire others.

- Nicola Adams

It isn't just sports people that need someone to look up to - everyone needs that: LGBT people, the general public. To be honest, it's nice to feel that I can inspire so many people in so many areas of public life.

- Nicola Adams

I want to be the European, Olympic, Commonwealth and world champion. I want the full set.

- Nicola Adams

I'd love to be the Ali of women's boxing, to retire as the greatest.

- Nicola Adams

When I was young, I used to watch videos of Ali boxing, with my dad. It set me on the road. I wanted to be like Ali. I wanted to have my own Nicki shuffle and everything.

- Nicola Adams

When The Queen invited the Olympians to the Palace, I was first in line to speak to her. She said she watched the Games and how happy she was, how impressed she was with the boxing. She told me she'd watched my fight and enjoyed it. I didn't realise the effect I'd had on the whole country.

- Nicola Adams

My family and friends are the only people I pay mind to. It's none of my business what anyone else thinks. I don't even know them, so why should I care?

- Nicola Adams

When I look back, I only do so to see what I've done in my past - my gold medals and the Championships that I've won. Really, I just look to the future and hopefully winning even more.

- Nicola Adams

My mum did really well raising me and my brother by herself. I know it was a struggle, and even from a young age, when I was boxing, it was always to make my mother proud.

- Nicola Adams

Every time I get in the ring, I have to give 110 per cent because my opponents have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so I have to make sure I go in there with my A-game and come away with the victory.

- Nicola Adams

Everywhere I go, people ask me for photos and autographs, saying I inspired them to start training. Boris Johnson says his sons started boxing after seeing me - how cool is that?

- Nicola Adams

I went into boxing, and I'm bisexual, and I still achieved and performed at the highest level, and I came away with gold and made history, so with that said, anything is possible.

- Nicola Adams

I wouldn't call myself a feminist. I am just me. I like boxing and acting and doing my charity work.

- Nicola Adams

One girl said when I won my gold that was what inspired her to do boxing. She was only 12, and that is the same age I was when I first started.

- Nicola Adams

Sometimes my brain is saying, 'Go wild on food,' and I'll want to pig out, but I'll tell myself, 'No.' You either want to win or you don't.

- Nicola Adams

I would be more wary of boxing a pretty boxer than I would one that looks like they have been bashed up a bit because the pretty boxer obviously doesn't get hit - so that means they must be quite good!

- Nicola Adams

It is really important that we get more women doing exercise and being active, and those that have taken up boxing or boxing training will definitely find that it has a really positive impact on their health, fitness and well-being.

- Nicola Adams

If I've got an event coming up, I might buy myself a new suit. I prefer wearing suits to dresses - I reckon I've got about 15.

- Nicola Adams

In places like the U.S. and Germany, women's professional boxing is already quite big, but I'd like to be the name that makes it bigger and gives it more global appeal.

- Nicola Adams

Just imagine if women's sport was on the TV all the time - how many more female athletes we would have?

- Nicola Adams

Even though I am a woman boxer, I am not just inspiring women; I hope I am inspiring boys as well.

- Nicola Adams

I'm good at clearing things out. If I haven't worn something for a while, I'll give it away to charity.

- Nicola Adams

As a kid, I was always picky about food; if it didn't 'look right,' I wouldn't eat it.

- Nicola Adams

You can have someone younger, faster, but if you have got that experience and that ring craft, you can do anything in that ring.

- Nicola Adams

I think the more people that feel comfortable in their own skin and feel happy that they can come out and know that it's not going to affect their job or moving up in their career is the way forward. Just making people feel happy and comfortable in their own job and in their sport.

- Nicola Adams