Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games

Athletics at the
VIII Pan American Games
Athletics at the ; VIII Pan American Games
Dates	7–14 July
Host city	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Venue	Estadio Sixto Escobar
Events	39
Participation	380 athletes from ; 30 nations
	← Mexico City 1975 Caracas 1983 → ; 1979 Pan American Games

Athletics competitions at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan were held from July 7 to 14^[1] at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.^[2]

Medalists

Key
GR	Pan American Games record

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +1.5 m/s) details	Silvio Leonard Cuba	10.13	Harvey Glance United States	10.19	Emmit King United States	10.30
200 metres (wind: +3.9 m/s) details	Silvio Leonard Cuba	20.37	James Gilkes Guyana	20.46	Don Coleman United States	20.56
400 metres details	Tony Darden United States	45.11	Alberto Juantorena Cuba	45.24	Willie Smith United States	45.3
800 metres details	James Robinson United States	1:46.3 GR	Alberto Juantorena Cuba	1:46.4	Agberto Guimarães Brazil	1:46.8
1500 metres details	Don Paige United States	3:40.4 GR	Todd Harbour United States	3:41.5	Agberto Guimarães Brazil	3:41.5
5000 metres details	Matt Centrowitz United States	14:01.0	Herb Lindsay United States	14:04.1	Rodolfo Gómez Mexico	14:05.0
10,000 metres details	Rodolfo Gómez Mexico	29:02.4	Enrique Aquino Mexico	29:03.9	Frank Shorter United States	29:06.4

110 metres hurdles (wind: +2.0 m/s) details	Renaldo Nehemiah United States	13.20 GR	Alejandro Casañas Cuba	13.46	Charles Foster United States	13.56
400 metres hurdles details	James Walker United States	49.66	Antônio Dias Ferreira Brazil	50.85	Frank Montiéh Cuba	51.30
3000 metres steeplechase details	Henry Marsh United States	8:43.6	William McCullough United States	8:44.7	Demetrio Cabanillos Mexico	8:52.4

4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Mike Roberson Harvey Glance Cliff Wiley Steve Riddick	38.85	Cuba Osvaldo Lara Alejandro Casañas Silvio Leonard Juan Saborit	39.14	Brazil Milton de Castro Nelson dos Santos Rui da Silva Altevir de Araújo	39.44
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States James Walker Herman Frazier Maurice Peoples Tony Darden	3:03.8	Jamaica Ian Stapleton Floyd Brown Bert Cameron Colin Bradford	3:04.7	Cuba Frank Montiéh Carlos Álvarez Alberto Juantorena Pedro Tanis	3:06.3

Marathon details	Radamés González Cuba	2:24:09	Luis Barbosa Colombia	2:24:44	Rich Hughson Canada	2:25:34
20 kilometres walk details	Daniel Bautista Mexico	1:28:15 GR	Neal Pyke United States	1:30:17	Todd Scully United States	1:32:30
50 kilometres walk details	Raúl González Mexico	4:05:17 GR	Martín Bermúdez Mexico	4:11:13	Marco Evoniuk United States	4:24:20

High jump details	Franklin Jacobs United States	2.26 GR	Benn Fields United States	2.19	Milton Ottey Canada	2.19
Pole vault details	Bruce Simpson Canada	5.15	Greg Woepse United States	5.05	Brian Morrissette Virgin Islands	4.85
Long jump details	João Carlos de Oliveira Brazil	8.18	David Giralt Cuba	8.15	Carl Lewis United States	8.13
Triple jump details	João Carlos de Oliveira Brazil	17.27	Willie Banks United States	16.88	James Butts United States	16.69
Shot put details	Dave Laut United States	20.22 GR	Bishop Dolegiewicz Canada	19.67	Bruno Pauletto Canada	19.61
Discus throw details	Mac Wilkins United States	63.30	Bradley Cooper Bahamas	62.16 GR	Luis Delís Cuba	61.70
Hammer throw details	Scott Neilson Canada	69.64 GR	Armando Orozco Cuba	68.48	Genovevo Morejón Cuba	67.66
Javelin throw details	Duncan Atwood United States	84.16 GR	Antonio González Cuba	84.12	Raúl Pupo Cuba	81.96

Decathlon details	Bobby Coffman United States	8078 GR	Tito Steiner Argentina	7638	Zenon Smiechowski Canada	7337

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +0.9 m/s) details	Evelyn Ashford United States	11.07	Brenda Morehead United States	11.11	Angella Taylor Canada	11.36
200 metres (wind: +2.2 m/s) details	Evelyn Ashford United States	22.24	Angella Taylor Canada	22.74	Merlene Ottey Jamaica	22.79
400 metres details	Sharon Dabney United States	51.81	June Griffith Guyana	51.81	Patricia Jackson United States	52.32
800 metres details	Essie Kelley United States	2:01.2 GR	Julie Brown United States	2:01.2	Aurelia Pentón Cuba	2:02.1
1500 metres details	Mary Decker United States	4:05.7 GR	Julie Brown United States	4:06.4	Penny Werthner Canada	4:14.8
3000 metres details	Jan Merrill United States	8:53.6 GR	Julie Brown United States	8:59.9	Geri Fitch Canada	9:35.7
100 metres hurdles (wind: +3.9 m/s) details	Deby LaPlante United States	12.90	Sharon Lane Canada	13.56	Grisel Machado Cuba	13.60

4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Valerie Brisco Karen Hawkins Chandra Cheeseborough Brenda Morehead	43.30	Jamaica Lelieth Hodges Rosie Allwood Carmetta Drummond Merlene Ottey	44.18	Cuba Marta Zulueta Silvia Chivás Isabel Taylor Eloína Echevarría	46.26
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States Sharon Dabney Patricia Jackson Rosalyn Bryant Essie Kelley	3:29.4 GR	Cuba Ana Fidelia Quirot Nery McKeen Ana Luisa Guibert Aurelia Pentón	3:36.3a	Canada Micheline Racette Marita Payne Jeanette Wood Anne Mackie-Morelli	3:37.6a

High jump details	Louise Ritter United States	1.93 GR	Pam Spencer United States	1.87	Debbie Brill Canada	1.85
Long jump details	Kathy McMillan United States	6.46	Ana Alexander Cuba	6.31	Eloína Echevarría Cuba	6.27
Shot put details	María Elena Sarría Cuba	18.81 GR	Maren Seidler United States	18.57	Carmen Ionesco Canada	16.50
Discus throw details	Carmen Romero Cuba	60.58 GR	María Cristina Betancourt Cuba	60.44	Carmen Ionesco Canada	57.14
Javelin throw details	María Caridad Colón Cuba	62.30 GR	Lynn Cannon United States	56.18	Cathy Sulinski United States	55.82

Pentathlon details	Diane Konihowski Canada	4605	Jodi Anderson United States	4434	Jill Ross Canada	4112

Medal table


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	25	16	11	52
2	Cuba	6	10	9	25
3	Canada	3	3	12	18
4	Mexico	3	2	2	7
5	Brazil	2	1	3	6
6	Jamaica	0	2	1	3
7	Guyana	0	2	0	2
8	Argentina	0	1	0	1
	Bahamas	0	1	0	1
	Colombia	0	1	0	1
11	Virgin Islands	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		39	39	39	117

Participating nations

Antigua and Barbuda (7)
Argentina (14)
Bahamas (3)
Barbados (5)
Bermuda (6)
Bolivia (1)
Brazil (26)
Canada (50)
Chile (13)
Colombia (6)
Costa Rica (5)
Cuba (50)
Dominican Republic (11)
Ecuador (2)
Guatemala (1)
Guyana (3)
Honduras (8)
Jamaica (17)
Mexico (15)
Panama (2)
Paraguay (1)
Peru (1)
Puerto Rico (41)
El Salvador (3)
Suriname (1)
Trinidad and Tobago (9)
United States (68)
Virgin Islands (8)
Uruguay (2)
Venezuela (1)

References

^ Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 231. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
^ Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 197. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-11.

GBR Athletics

[1] Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 231. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-11.

[2] Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 197. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-11.

[1]

[2]