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 players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

and indoor bowler.

Bowls career

World championships

After winning pairs silver and singles bronze in Moama in 2000 and pairs bronze in 2004, Murphy went on to win World Championship golds. Murphy 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 () is an island country in the s ...

in the fours, 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in the triples and twice in the singles at the 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship and the

2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Burnside Bowling Club in Avonhead, Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban a ...

. She successfully defended her title in the

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

at the

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

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 medals at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

in the pairs. In addition she has won three

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

silver medals, the most recent being in the Women's triples at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

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 lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Asia Pacific region. The event was inaugurated in 1985, and it was initially held every t ...

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

Nationals

In 2023, Murphy won the

Australian National Bowls Championships The Australian National Bowls Championships and the Australian Open are competitions in Australia for bowls. They are organised by Bowls Australia. Bowls dates back to 1845 in Australia but it was not until 1910, during the 1910 Carnival of Bowl ...

fours title with Jamie-Lee Worsnop,

Ellen Falkner Ellen Marie Falkner (née Alexander; born 12 June 1979) is an English international lawn and indoor bowler from Cambridge, England. Falkner was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services ...

and Ellen Ryan, to add to her three

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

titles.

Indoors

In 2012, she also won the World Indoor Bowls Championship 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 The World Indoor Bowls Championship is an international bowls competition held annually at Potters Resorts in Hopton on Sea. In recent history matches are streamed live on YouTube & Facebook, attracting around four million views annually. T ...

for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 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 Australian honours system, 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, Da ...

, for "For significant service to lawn bowls as an elite player at the international level." In 2024, she was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

References