Great Britain's Nicola Adams has revealed that she suffered from a debilitating back injury last year on her way to becoming Olympic champion.

The 29-year-old defeated five-time world champion Ren Cancan of China on Thursday to become the first ever Olympic women's boxing gold medallist.

"I spent three months in bed last year not being able to move because of a back injury, and when I first came back to training I went from being able to do 200 sit-ups a day to not being able to do a single one," she told Sky Sports News.

"I thought to myself, 'how am I going to get back to being a fighter?' But I stuck to my gameplan and listened to all the doctors and the physios and did what I was told and look at me now - I'm Olympic champion."

Before their bout on Thursday Adams had been beaten by twice by Cancan in World Championship finals.