Margaret Johnson MBE (born 2 May 1943) is a former

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

lawn and indoor bowler.

Bowls career

Johnston is arguably the greatest women's player of all time despite only starting outdoor bowling in 1979. From

Bellaghy Bellaghy () is a village in County Derry, Northern Ireland. It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north east of Magherafelt. In the centre of the village (known locally as The Diamond) three main roads lead to Magherafelt, Po ...

, County Londonderry, she joined an indoor club and played locally for many years before joining the

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( ga, Baile Monaidh , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a small town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated i ...

Club. In her first year of the outdoors game Johnston reached the final of the Irish Singles.

World Outdoor

Her record in the World Outdoor Bowls Championship reads as six golds, two silver and one bronze. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

she was pairs champion with Phillis Nolan, silver in the singles and bronze in the team. Four years later she won the singles and pairs (with Nolan again) and a silver in the team. In 1996 she won a third consecutive pairs title with Nolan and four years later in the

2000 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2000 Men's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Marks Park Bowling Club, in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1 to 15 April 2000. The 2000 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Moama Bowling Club in Moama, Australia ...

she became singles Champion again. Finally in the 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship she won a record third singles title.

Commonwealth Games

Johnston won the

pairs Concentration, also known as Memory, Shinkei-suijaku (Japanese meaning "nervous breakdown"), Matching Pairs, Match Match, Match Up, Pelmanism, Pexeso or simply Pairs, is a card game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and tw ...

gold medal with Freda Elliott at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and eight years later won a second gold medal after winning the singles competition in Canada. She represented Northern Ireland ins six consecutive Commonwealth Games from 1986 until 2006. In between the two gold medal successes was a bronze medal in the singles at the 1990 Games.

Atlantic Championships

In 1997 she won the singles and pairs silver medals at the Atlantic Bowls Championships. Two years later she won the singles and triples gold medal at the Championships. Her medal haul would arguably have been greater but she refused to fund her own travel costs which the Irish Bowls authorities failed to fund.

National Championships & Other

The first Irish National Bowls Championships title came in 1983 and then she went from strength to strength creating an incredible record. She turned back the clock in 2017 when she won the fours title at the Irish National Championships. Johnston also holds the record number for women's singles titles at the British Isles Bowls Championships, winning four in 1985, 1996, 1997 & 1999. In addition to her World outdoor and Commonwealth titles she was also the 2004 World Singles Champion of Champions.

World Indoor

Johnston also won the 1988 World Indoor Bowls Championship title.

List of major wins

Johnson's achievements include: * 1986 Commonwealth Games Pairs Champion * 1988 World Indoor Bowls Championship Singles Champion *

1988 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1988 Men's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, from 30 January to 14 February 1988. David Bryant won a third singles Gold defeating Willie Wood in the final. New Zealand won the Pairs and Triple ...

Pairs Champion * 1992 World Outdoor Bowls Championship Singles Champion * 1992 World Outdoor Bowls Championship Pairs Champion *

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games (French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling ...

Singles Champion * 1996 World Outdoor Bowls Championship Pairs Champion *1997 Atlantic Bowls Championships Singles Champion *1997 Atlantic Bowls Championships Pairs Champion *

Singles Champion * 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship Singles Champion

Awards and retirement

Johnston was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

1991 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1991 were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. They were published on 28 December 1990 for the United Kingdom, N ...

for services to bowls. She was voted BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year in 2004 and in 2008 announced her retirement from international bowls.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Margaret 1943 births Living people Female lawn bowls players from Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games medallists in lawn bowls Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Northern Ireland Bowls players at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Bowls World Champions Indoor Bowls World Champions Bowls European Champions Members of the Order of the British Empire