Oliphant (43), an employee at the Avalon Training Centre, knocked over the 10 pins on five consecutive ends.
He won the division 8 singles with a score of 699 and was also a key member of the Tauranga division one team that won the gold medal.
In the team game he contributed 200 points. Geoff Watson was the top scorer with 210.
The other members of the winning team were Len Just and Joshua Meyer.
Oliphant has been a member of the Tauranga tenpin bowling team for the last decade and also won a gold medal at Palmerston North four years ago.
''Tenpin is a good hobby for me,'' he said.
''It keeps me entertained.''
The 62-strong Tauranga team stayed at Studholme Hall and had to get up at 5.30am each day to catch the 7am bus.
''I didn't like the early-morning starts,'' Oliphant said.
There were five gold medallists in the Tauranga tenpin team. The other singles winner was David MacKenzie .
The coach was Raewyn Judson, who has been involved with Special Olympics for 10 years and has coached tenpin for the last three.
