Athletics at the 1959 Pan American Games

This page shows the medal winners during the Athletics Competition at the 1959 Pan American Games, held in Chicago, United States. The United States continued its domination, winning 18 out of a possible 22 gold medals at Soldier Field. Controversy occurred in the hammer throw event. Hal Connolly was declared the winner, but a re-measurement put him in a tie instead. Using the second best throw, Connolly was placed second behind his teammate, Al Hall. Both were credited with a new Pan-Am record.

Ray Norton (USA) won double gold in the 100m and 200m, tying the 200m world record, and adding a third in the 4x100m Relay. Argentina's Osvaldo Suárez repeated his 1955 gold in the 10.000m. Other outstanding feats included: Don Bragg overcoming an infected heel to set a Pan-Am record in the pole vault; Dave Edstrom, with Rafer Johnson injured, dominating the men's decathlon; and Adhemar da Silva (BRA) on his third consecutive gold medal in the men's triple jump. A total number of seventeen Pan-Am records were set or equaled.

In the women's tournament the U.S. won eight out of ten gold medals as well as seven silvers and three bronze. Isabelle Daniels won two golds and Lucinda Williams three, both were members of the 4x100m Relay team. The only non-American to win gold was Cuba's Bertha Díaz in the 80m Hurdles. Five Pan-Am records were set or equaled.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Ray Norton  United States	10.3w	Mike Agostini British West Indies	10.4w	Enrique Figuerola  Cuba	10.5w
200 metres	Ray Norton  United States	20.6w	Les Carney  United States	21.1w	Mike Agostini British West Indies	21.1w
400 metres	George Kerr British West Indies	46.1	Basil Ince British West Indies	46.4	Malcolm Spence British West Indies	46.6
800 metres	Tom Murphy  United States	1:49.4	George Kerr British West Indies	1:49.4	Tony Seth British West Indies	1:49.7
1500 metres	Dyrol Burleson  United States	3:49.1	Jim Grelle  United States	3:49.9	Ed Moran  United States	3:50.1
5000 metres	Bill Dellinger  United States	14:28.4	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	14:28.6	Doug Kyle  Canada	14:33.0
10000 metres	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	30:17.2	Doug Kyle  Canada	30:18.0	Bob Soth  United States	30:21.8
Marathon	John J. Kelley  United States	2:27:55	Jim Green  United States	2:32:17	Gordon Dickson  Canada	2:36:19
3000 metre steeplechase	Phil Coleman  United States	8:56.4	Charles "Deacon" Jones  United States	8:56.6	Alfredo Tinoco  Mexico	8:58.0
110 metres hurdles	Hayes Jones  United States	13.6w	Lee Calhoun  United States	13.7w	Elias Gilbert  United States	14.0w
400 metres hurdles	Josh Culbreath  United States	51.2	Dick Howard  United States	51.3	Cliff Cushman  United States	53.0
High jump	Charles Dumas  United States	2.10	Bob Gardner  United States	2.03	Ernle Haisley British West Indies	2.00
Pole vault	Don Bragg  United States	4.62	Jim Graham  United States	4.32	Rolando Cruz  Puerto Rico	4.32
Long jump	Irvin "Bo" Roberson  United States	7.97	Greg Bell  United States	7.60	Lester Bird British West Indies	7.46
Triple jump	Adhemar da Silva  Brazil	15.90	Herman Stokes  United States	15.39	Bill Sharpe  United States	15.25
Shot put	Parry O'Brien  United States	19.04	Dallas Long  United States	18.51	Dave Davis  United States	17.01
Discus throw	Al Oerter  United States	58.12	Dick Cochran  United States	54.44	Parry O'Brien  United States	51.84
Hammer throw	Al Hall  United States	59.71	Hal Connolly  United States	59.67	Bob Backus  United States	59.55
Javelin throw	Buster Quist  United States	70.50	Phil Conley  United States	69.94	Al Cantello  United States	69.82
Decathlon	Dave Edstrom  United States	7254	Phil Mulkey  United States	6062	George Stulac  Canada	5989
4 x 100 metres relay	United States	40.4	Venezuela	41.1	British West Indies Clifton Bertrand Mike Agostini Wilton Jackson Dennis Johnson	41.6
4 x 400 metres relay	British West Indies	3:05.3	United States	3:05.8	Puerto Rico	3:12.4

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
60 metres	Isabelle Daniels  United States	7.4	Barbara Jones  United States	7.4	Carlota Gooden  Panama	7.4
100 metres	Lucinda Williams  United States	12.1	Wilma Rudolph  United States	12.3	Carlota Gooden  Panama	12.3
200 metres	Lucinda Williams  United States	24.2	Isabelle Daniels  United States	24.8	Sally McCallum  Canada	25.1
80 metres hurdles	Bertha Díaz  Cuba	11.2	Wanda dos Santos  Brazil	11.5	Marion Monroe  Canada	11.5
High Jump	Ann Flynn  United States	1.61	Renata Friedrichs  Chile Alice Whitty  Canada	1.50
Long Jump	Annie Smith  United States	5.74	Margaret Matthews  United States	5.73	Willye White  United States	5.70
Shot Put	Earlene Brown  United States	14.68	Sharon Sheppard  United States	13.48	Wanda Wejzgrowicz  United States	13.10
Discus Throw	Earlene Brown  United States	49.31	Pamela Kurrell  United States	42.19	Marjorie Larney  United States	42.18
Javelin Throw	Marlene Ahrens  Chile	45.38	Marjorie Larney  United States	43.65	Amelia Wood  United States	42.96
4 x 100 metres relay	United States	46.4	Panama	48.2	Canada	48.5

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	26	23	13	62
2	British West Indies	2	3	6	11
3	Argentina	1	1	0	2
	Brazil	1	1	0	2
	Chile	1	1	0	2
6	Cuba	1	0	1	2
7	Canada	0	2	6	8
8	Panama	0	1	2	3
9	Venezuela	0	1	0	1
10	Puerto Rico	0	0	2	2
11	Mexico	0	0	1	1

References

• GBR Athletics

v • d • e Athletics at the Pan American Games 1951 • 1955 • 1959 • 1963 • 1967 • 1971 • 1975 • 1979 • 1983 • 1987 • 1991 • 1995 • 1999 • 2003 • 2007 See also: List of Pan American Games records in athletics