London 2012 Olympics: Nicola Adams hopes her gold can inspire men

NICOLA ADAMS hopes her historic gold medal will prove the first of many for Great Britain’s boxing team as four of her team-mates bid for places in their respective Olympic finals at ExCeL later today.

Luke Campbell, Fred Evans, Anthony Ogogo and Anthony Joshua are desperate to follow the lead of Adams, who outclassed China’s world No. 1 Ren Cancan 16-7 to be crowned the first Olympic women’s boxing champion.

Adams said: “I’ve got the gold medal now and hopefully that will inspire the lads to go on and get more gold.

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“I’d tell them to stay focused and relaxed when you get in the arena, hear the crowd and suck it all up. They’re here to support you, so make the most of it.”

Campbell will start favourite against Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu at bantamweight, while Ogogo is out for revenge against Brazil’s Esquiva Falcao, who beat the Lowestoft man at last year’s World Championships.

Ogogo said: “When I lost to Falcao it was just before I had shoulder surgery and I was boxing with just one arm. Since the operation I’ve felt totally better so I’m looking forward to boxing him again with two arms this time.”

Welshman Fred Evans faces a tough bout at welterweight against Ukraine’s world No. 1 Taras Shelestyuk, and Anthony Joshua rounds the night off with a daunting task against 6ft 9in Kazakh Ivan Dychko.

They will all dream of following Adams, who was simply imperious in the way she dispatched the Chinese fighter, flooring Ren with a big left in the second round and even finding time for an Ali Shuffle in the dying seconds.

Adams had been beaten in each of the last two World Championship finals by Ren, but started superbly and had built an enormous 14-5 advantage by the end of the third round, virtually assuring her of gold with two minutes to spare.

Adams celebrated victory with a victory salute to all four corners of the ring and insisted fame would not change her.

Saying she planned to meet her family for a trip to Nando’s, Adams added: “I just like being the normal Nicky Adams.”