Vale Joy Forster

PRINT PAGE

Commonwealth Games Australia mourns the passing of Glasgow 2014 bronze medallist Joy Forster at age 70.

Forster competed at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in the vision-impaired mixed pairs discipline, at the age of 64, where she secured a bronze medal alongside her vision-director Bruce Jones.

Forster is the sixth oldest athlete to compete for Australia at the Commonwealth Games and fourth oldest medallist.

Joy enjoyed her Commonwealth Games experience, admitting she was enjoying her taste of fame upon landing in Scotland for the Games in 2014. Such was the Aussie athletes’ popularity, Joy said she ‘felt like a queen’ from the way people had treated her from the time she arrived in Glasgow.

Proudly wearing her Australian team tracksuit around the streets of Glasgow, people had consistently been stopped her for photos and asking questions — and that was before she had a shiny bronze medal around her neck.

“It was such an unreal feeling,” Forster told the Gold Coast Bulletin in 2014.

Described as a beloved member of Queensland’s Chermside Bowls Club, Forster also enjoyed success at the International Blind Bowls Association’s World Championships, having secured a monumental three-peat in the blue-ribbon B2 women’s singles discipline, with gold medal victories in Melbourne 2009, England 2013 and South Africa 2017.

Forster was recognised as the joint winner of Bowls Queensland’s Bowler with a Disability of the Year award in 2013.

Despite only taking up the sport in her 50s, Forster was a lifelong fan of bowls, enjoying the television broadcasts long before realising her success on the world stage.

Commonwealth Games Australia, joins Bowls Australia in extending our condolences to Joy Forster’s family and friends.

OTHER NEWS

JOIN TODAY!

Become part of our Commonwealth Games Australia family and get all the latest news our team members!

JOIN NOW