Host city Guadalajara, Mexico Events 47 | Level Senior | |
Date(s) October 23 – October 30 Main stadium Telmex Athletics Stadium Participation 668 athletes from
39 nations | ||
Athletics competitions at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara was held from October 23 to October 30 at the newly built Telmex Athletics Stadium. The racewalking and marathon events were held on the temporary Guadalajara Circuit and Route and the Pan American Marathon circuit respectively. The sport of athletics is split into distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
Contents
Mirroring the Olympic athletics programme, both men and women had very similar schedules of events. Men competed in 24 events and women in 23, as their schedule lacks the 50 km race walk. In addition, both the men's 110 m hurdles and decathlon are reflected in the women's schedule by the 100 m hurdles and heptathlon, respectively.
As they had done in the 2007 edition, Cuba topped the athletics medal table, taking 18 gold medals and 33 medals in total. The Brazilian team were a clear second with ten golds and 23 medals overall. The hosts Mexico and the United States both won four events each, while Colombia had the third greatest medal haul with seventeen altogether.
Over the seven-day competition, fourteen Pan American Games records were equalled or bettered. Furthermore, two South American records were set: Brazil's Lucimara da Silva broke the heptathlon record and the Brazilian women's 4×100 metres relay quartet also improved a continental mark.
Men's events
Participation
A total of 668 athletes from 39 countries were entered in the athletics competition. A maximum of two participants were allowed per country for each individual event. Nations were able to enter one competitor who had not achieved the minimum standard performance. To register a second competitor, both athletes needed to have achieved the minimum standard performance.