BalanceJuneIssue2017 - 27

T H E B I G I N TERVIEW

'Some of the coaches were against women's
boxing. They would say that they didn't train
female boxers or they didn't have facilities in
the gym for girls. It was just excuses,' she says.
At the age of 13, one year before the ban was
scrapped, Nicola competed in her first junior
fight in a Leeds working men's club. That same
year, she was diagnosed with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and says boxing
became her 'medication' - a 'go to' when she
felt overwhelmed.
The fact that Nicola became a flag bearer for
women's boxing is testimony to her unflappable
self-belief, an attribute that accelerated her
recovery from a cracked vertebrae in 2008 to
qualify for London 2012. It also inspired the huge
tattoo on her upper back - a lion and, beneath

looks awkward. She struggles to find an answer, as
if highlighting a chink in her armour might leave
her exposed. Instead, she settles on a safe answer
- food. 'I've got a thing for cakes - I've got a sweet
tooth,' she says.
At the start of the interview, Nicola perches
gingerly on the edge of the sofa, perhaps cautious
about stepping into a conversational ring where
she's not in control. She later admits she 'doesn't
do' emotions and in her new memoir, Believe,
recalls burying her feelings when her mother
nearly died from meningitis. She was 13 at the
time and put on a brave face for the sake of her
younger brother Kurtis, now 27.
As the questions flow, Nicola reclines into the
cushions and loosens up, particularly when recalling
various pinch-me high-profile encounters.

it, the words: 'I am everything I want to be.'
'You've got to believe in yourself; it's all
about confidence. I never think I'm not
good enough. I know I'm always good
enough to win,' explains Nicola.

In March, she received an OBE from the Queen:
'That made me nervous because there are loads of
rules - you have to curtsey, which I'd never
done before.' There was a lunch with
West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady:
'I'm an Arsenal supporter, but I went
anyway.' And a thrilling conversation
with Daniel Radcliffe at an awards
ceremony: 'He said he'd watched a
few of my fights and commented on
how well I was doing. I'm a fan of his.
I was into Harry Potter!'
Nicola says she loves the glitz and
glamour of her life and is now so famous
that she was recently recognised in a
changing room by her Leeds accent alone.

POSITIVE POWER

'YOU'VE GOT
TO BELIEVE IN
YOURSELF; IT'S ALL
ABOUT CONFIDENCE.
I NEVER THINK I'M
NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
I KNOW I'M ALWAYS
GOOD ENOUGH
TO WIN.'

She began practising visualisation
- a technique that uses positive
mental images to make things
happen - long before sports
psychologists recommended it as
a tool for success. As a young girl,
before female boxing was an Olympic
sport, Nicola pledged to her mother
that she would one day win a gold medal
boxing at the Olympics.
'Victory is as much about mental strength
as physical power,' she says. 'In the dressing
room before a fight, I see myself winning. If you
think about losing, you've already lost.' All this

HARD KNOCKS
It's a fairytale ending for the girl raised on a
council estate by parents Dee and Innocent, who
argued so intensely that Nicola recalls, around

fighting talk could seem distinctively un-British,
but in person Nicola is unassuming, warm and
quietly confident - she's far from extrovert.
Always looking for ways to improve her
performance, in February Nicola relocated to
America to work with Amir Khan's trainer,
Virgil Hunter, at his famous Oakland gym in
San Francisco.
'As a boxer, you can never be perfect. You're
never the finished article. You can always be
more technically sound, faster, stronger.'
Ask her to ponder her weakness, and Nicola

NICOLA'S
FORMULA FOR A
HEALTHY BODY

EAT
NUTRITIOUS
FOOD

DRINK
WATER

the age of four, jumping in front of her mum
wielding a plastic sword to keep her father away.
They divorced when Nicola was 11, after she had
spent three years begging her mother to leave.
How did a childhood marred by violence affect
her? 'It was tough, but it made me mentally
stronger,' says Nicola. 'You just know when
something's not right, no matter how old you are.'
Save for a 'good luck' text before Rio, it's been
five years since Nicola saw her father after he
showed up unannounced at London 2012. 'We
don't speak,' she says. 'That's my choice.'

VARIED
EXERCISE

June 2017 BALANCE

SELFBELIEF

FIT FOR
SUCCESS

25



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