Nicola Adams: Boxing and sport has always respected my sexuality but there is still a long way to go

During my boxing career, I faced a lot of challenges. But thankfully, coming out and sharing my story never really affected my sporting life.

It was being female in boxing that was more offensive than anything else. My sexuality was never a big thing within the sport. Eyebrows were raised because I was a woman in boxing, not because I was a gay woman in boxing.

It was never really brought up or paid any attention to. Fighting as a woman was the biggest struggle. I had my first fight at the age of 13 as an amateur and had to wait another four years to fight again. It wasn’t easy but that wasn’t because I was gay, it was because I was a woman.

Boxing is one of those sports that is inclusive across race, colour, religion and sexuality. Anyone can go to the gym and put some gloves on. It is one of the sports where you don’t particularly need a lot of money to get involved.

When I first started, my hero was Muhammad Ali. I grew up watching reruns of him in action, winning an Olympic gold medal, turning professional and becoming a champion and one of the greatest of all time.

The things he did outside the ring were unbelievable and changed the lives of a lot of people. Boxing has always been an inclusive sport – as long as you put the work in you are accepted, there are no limitations.

I think in the past, there have been misconceptions that if you are gay, you can’t like sport. It’s ridiculous. But in boxing, it is not something that I have ever really been aware of. It has always been very inclusive.

In other sports of course, there is still a ways to go. The fact there has only been one openly gay male footballer in the UK in the last 30 years just shows how scared people are of just wanting to be themselves.

It shows there is a