Video: 100 days to go and boxer Nicola goes for gold - but what do the Olympics mean to you?

Leeds boxer Adams, a two-time World Championship silver medallist, has been in imperious form this year, defeating two consecutive world champions en route to gold medals in tournaments in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

It is becoming abundantly clear that when she is on top form there are few in the world who can touch Adams, who hopes to pin down her Olympic berth at the World Championships in China next month.

Adams, one of women’s boxing’s leading lights long before the sport was even being seriously considered for the Olympic programme, admits her form in 2012 has surprised even herself.

“If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be in this position I’d have thought you were mad,” said European champion Adams, who had her first bout at 13.

“I was in bed for almost a year and the Olympics were the last thing on my mind.

“But there is no doubt that what I went through has made me stronger. I’ve got so much experience of the highs and lows now that I just box for the present and don’t look back or too far into the future.”

Having spent so much of her early career in the shadows, there were fears Adams would miss out on her big Olympic chance when she was hit by the injury which kept her immobile for the best part of a year.

But within six months of returning, she had won her first World Championship silver medal at flyweight in Brbados, and is increasingly becoming one of the poster athletes for 2012 at the head of a history-making women’s squad.

As well as Adams, Hartlepool’s Savannah Marshall is considered a realistic medal prospect at middleweight while Liverpool lightweight Natasha Jonas is also experienced enough to move into contention.

But Adams, who, in 2001, became the first woman boxer to represent England, maintains she feels no extra pressure from all the hopes that have been invested in her. Having fought with no funding for years, and battled injury, it is the least of her worries.

“I don’t feel pressure when everyone marks me down for a gold medal,” she added.

“I’d be more worried if people weren’t expecting me to get a medal. I’d question whether I was good enough to achieve those things.

“Once it starts, I’ll get my head down and treat it just like any other competition.

“Having said that, I will throw myself into the Olympic experience.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you’ve just got to enjoy the moment.

“From my previous experiences, I know that you can never guarantee what is going to happen in the future.

“After everything that’s happened in my career, I can’t believe it’s so close now, and I’ve got to make the most of it.”