Willie Wood (bowler)

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For other persons named Willie Wood, see Willie Wood (disambiguation).

Willie Wood

William "Willie" Wood MBE (b. 1938 in Haddington, East Lothian) is a Scottish professional bowls player, who has mainly competed in the outdoor or lawn form of the game. His list of achievements include two Commonwealth Games gold medals and two World Bowls Championship runner-up medals. He was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

Wood took up bowls at the age of 13, perhaps unsurprisingly as his father, grandfather and mother all played the sport. With little else to occupy his time, Wood says he elected to bowl in his home village of Gifford, rather than brave the bus journey to the swimming baths at nearby North Berwick.

Wood first represented his country in 1966 and in 2002 became the first athlete to compete in a 7th Commonwealth Games. His Commonwealth Games career included a singles bronze in 1974, a silver in the pairs in 1978, individual gold in 1982 and a captain's role in the 1990 winning fours team. The feat is even more remarkable as, had internal politics not forced him out of the 1986 games (held, ironically, in Scotland), Woods could have competed in more. After refusing to be reclassified as an amateur, the Scotland team decided not to select the World Championship runner-up, denying him the chance to compete in Edinburgh, at a bowling green just metres from Tynecastle Park - home of his beloved Heart of Midlothian FC. In 2002, Wood was reported to be disappointed that Team Scotland athletes voted to give cyclist Craig McLean the honour of carrying the flag at the opening ceremony, despite Wood's record-breaking achievement.

He competed in the finals of the 1984 and 1988 World Bowls Championship (held every four years), missing out by millimetres to Peter Belliss of New Zealand in 1984 on home soil in Aberdeen. He was back in the final four years later in Auckland, New Zealand but was beaten by England's David Bryant. Wood has an impressive collection of World Championship medals in singles, pairs, triples and foursomes, most recently bronze medals in the triples and fours at the 2000 event in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He was awarded the MBE for services to sport in 1992. He has also written an instructional book, "A Bias to Bowls", which was published in 1990.