Karen Anne Murphy (born 18 December 1974) is an Australian international

lawn bowler Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

and indoor bowler.

Bowls career

World championships

Murphy has won the

2008 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2008 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Burnside Bowling Club in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 12 to 24 January 2008. Safuan Said won the men's singles Gold. New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island coun ...

in the fours,

2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Lockleys Bowling Club in Adelaide, Australia, from 24 November to 9 December 2012. Some of the qualifying rounds were held at the nearby Holdfast Bowling Club in Glenelg North. Leif Se ...

in the triples and twice in the singles at the

and the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. She successfully defended her title in the singles at the 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch after defeating Lesley Doig in the final. This achievement is generally agreed to have elevated her to being the best female bowler since Margaret Johnston.

Commonwealth Games

She has won

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in the pairs. In addition she has won three Commonwealth Games silver medals, the most recent being in the Women's triples at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Asia Pacific Championships

She has won a remarkable 13 medals at the

Asia Pacific Bowls Championships The Asia Pacific Bowls Championships formerly the Pacific Rim Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Asia Pacific region. The event was inaugurated in 1985, and it was initially held ...

, of which no less than eight have been gold in colour.

Indoors

In 2012, she also won the

World Indoor Bowls Championship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

title, a fine achievement bearing in mind that she does not compete every year in the event held in England.

Awards

She has also been a guest commentator during the World Indoor Bowls Championships for the BBC. She was a Director for World Bowls from 2014-2018. Murphy was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the

2021 Australia Day Honours The 2021 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2021 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley. The Australia ...

, for "For significant service to lawn bowls as an elite player at the international level."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Karen 1974 births Living people Bowls players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Australian female bowls players Bowls World Champions Commonwealth Games medallists in lawn bowls Indoor Bowls World Champions Members of the Order of Australia People from Kiama, New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian women Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games