Edwards in 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | New Zealander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-02-05)5 February 1970 (age 56) Clatterbridge, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Joanna EdwardsMNZM (born 5 February 1970) is a New Zealand internationallawn bowls competitor. She has won two world titles and three Commonwealth Games gold medals.
At the2002 Commonwealth Games she won a gold medal along withSharon Sims in the women's pairs event.[1] She has twice won the gold medal at theWorld Outdoor Bowls Championships in the pairs events: in 2004 with Sharon Sims;[2] and in 2008 withVal Smith.
In 2014 she won a second Commonwealth Games gold medal after winning thewomen's singles in Glasgow.
In 2016, she won a bronze medal at the2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship inChristchurch in thesingles and a silver medal withAngela Boyd in thepairs.[3]
She was selected as part of theNew Zealand team for the2018 Commonwealth Games on theGold Coast inQueensland,[4] where she claimed agold medal in theSingles.
In 2020 she was selected for the2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Australia.[5]
In addition to World Bowls and Commonwealth Games success she has won five gold medals and (nine medals in total) at theAsia Pacific Bowls Championships[6] and excelled at the 2015 APL (Australian Premier League), she was the only woman competing in the eight-team tournament featuring 24 of the world's top players and played alongside her countrymenAli Forsyth andShannon McIlroy to win the title at Club Pine Rivers.[7]
Edwards has won sixWorld Cup Singles titles (a women's record) with the latest success being in 2019. Previous wins were in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2017.[8]
In the2014 Queen's Birthday Honours, Edwards was appointed aMember of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to lawn bowls.[9]