Dedication

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.

Around lunchtime Adams “might do six sets of 10 press-ups with a 15kg weight on my back” followed by a two-hour boxing technique and sparring session in the evening. “I spar with men, they tend to be faster and stronger so it keeps me focused.

“There are days when I don’t feel like doing it,” she says. “But I stick to my regime. I want to win.”

It’s impossible to talk to Adams at any length without the W word making an appearance: winning. “When I’m going into a competition, it never even enters my mind that I might lose. I’m very competitive. When it does happen, I am a bit of a sore loser.” So is that focus something she was born with? “I think so. Even when I play board games at Christmas, I still have to win. I’m still known to sulk if I don’t come out on top.”

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.”

As well as a gruelling regime, being an Olympic athlete has forced Adams to her relinquish control over her weight, diet and even her holiday plans (she only gets two weeks off for Christmas). All are dictated by a packed schedule (up to 30 fights per year) and a team of coaches.

She starts with her morning weigh-in (“I box at 51kgs and have to be within a 5% margin of that weight at all times.”). Then meals are a variation of chicken and vegetables and come pre-prepared from a delivery service, except for her sacred morning bowl of Frosties. “Frosties were non-negotiable,” she laughs.

I muse that having to give up so much of your freedom must get frustrating. She owns a house in Leeds but is rarely there as she trains all week in Sheffield. “Sometimes it does. I’ve been over my top weight a few times because I’ve let my diet slip. I even had a cheeky Big Mac after winning Olympic gold. And answering to a coach about every single thing I’ve eaten isn’t easy but I’m used to it.”

It’s a rare moment that she allows her focus to slip. At the shoot she doesn’t eat anything, although she does admit she’s eaten half the Easter egg we left in her hotel room. “When I’m tempted to throw off my training diet for a rack of Jack Daniels ribs at TGI Fridays or a piña colada, I just stop and think to myself, if I follow the rules, I might become the first British person – man or woman – to win two Olympic gold medals in boxing.” And that simple, focused thought, means that in 100 days’ time, Nicola Adams looks set to make history once again. We’ll be sure to have the Big Mac on standby.

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