Athletics at the 1959 Pan American Games
Dates	28 August – 2 September
Host city	Chicago, United States
Venue	Soldier Field
Level	Senior
Events	32
Participation	286 athletes from 19 nations
← Mexico City 1955 São Paulo 1963 → 1959 Pan American Games

The athletics competition in the 1959 Pan American Games were held in Chicago, United States.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +2.7 m/s) details	Ray Norton  United States	10.3w	Mike Agostini  West Indies	10.4w	Enrique Figuerola  Cuba	10.5w
200 metres details	Ray Norton  United States	20.6w	Les Carney  United States	21.1w	Mike Agostini  West Indies	21.1w
400 metres details	George Kerr  West Indies	46.1	Basil Ince  West Indies	46.4	Malcolm Spence  West Indies	46.6
800 metres details	Tom Murphy  United States	1:49.4	George Kerr  West Indies	1:49.4	Tony Seth  British Guiana	1:49.7
1500 metres details	Dyrol Burleson  United States	3:49.1	Jim Grelle  United States	3:49.9	Ed Moran  United States	3:50.1
5000 metres details	Bill Dellinger  United States	14:28.4	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	14:28.6	Doug Kyle  Canada	14:33.0
10,000 metres details	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	30:17.2	Doug Kyle  Canada	30:18.0	Bob Soth  United States	30:21.8
Marathon details	John J. Kelley  United States	2:27:55	Jim Green  United States	2:32:17	Gordon Dickson  Canada	2:36:19
110 metres hurdles (wind: +2.5 m/s) details	Hayes Jones  United States	13.6w	Lee Calhoun  United States	13.7w	Elias Gilbert  United States	14.0w
400 metres hurdles details	Josh Culbreath  United States	51.2	Dick Howard  United States	51.3	Cliff Cushman  United States	53.0
3000 metres steeplechase details	Phil Coleman  United States	8:56.4	Charles "Deacon" Jones  United States	8:56.6	Alfredo Tinoco  Mexico	8:58.0
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Hayes Jones Robert Poynter William Woodhouse Ray Norton	40.4	Venezuela Emilio Romero Lloyd Murad Clive Bonas Rafael Romero	41.1	West Indies Dennis Johnson Clifton Bertrand Wilton Jackson Mike Agostini	41.1
4 × 400 metres relay details	West Indies Mal Spence Mel Spence Basil Ince George Kerr	3:05.3	United States Eddie Southern Josh Culbreath Jack Yerman Dave Mills	3:05.8	Puerto Rico Ramón Vega Jossué Delgado Manuel Rivera Iván Rodríguez	3:12.4
High jump details	Charles Dumas  United States	2.10	Bob Gardner  United States	2.03	Ernle Haisley  West Indies	2.00
Pole vault details	Don Bragg  United States	4.62	Jim Graham  United States	4.32	Rolando Cruz  Puerto Rico	4.32
Long jump details	Irvin "Bo" Roberson  United States	7.97	Greg Bell  United States	7.60	Lester Bird  West Indies	7.46
Triple jump details	Adhemar da Silva  Brazil	15.90	Herman Stokes  United States	15.39	Bill Sharpe  United States	15.25
Shot put details	Parry O'Brien  United States	19.04	Dallas Long  United States	18.51	Dave Davis  United States	17.01
Discus throw details	Al Oerter  United States	58.12	Dick Cochran  United States	54.44	Parry O'Brien  United States	51.84
Hammer throw details	Al Hall  United States	59.71	Hal Connolly  United States	59.67	Bob Backus  United States	59.55
Javelin throw details	Buster Quist  United States	70.50	Phil Conley  United States	69.94	Al Cantello  United States	69.82
Decathlon details	Dave Edstrom  United States	7254	Phil Mulkey  United States	6062	George Stulac  Canada	5989

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
60 metres (wind: +3.6 m/s) details	Isabelle Daniels  United States	7.4	Barbara Jones  United States	7.4	Carlota Gooden  Panama	7.4
100 metres (wind: -1.1 m/s) details	Lucinda Williams  United States	12.1	Wilma Rudolph  United States	12.3	Carlota Gooden  Panama	12.3
200 metres (wind: +0.9 m/s) details	Lucinda Williams  United States	24.2	Isabelle Daniels  United States	24.8	Sally McCallum  Canada	25.1
80 metres hurdles (wind: +1.8 m/s) details	Bertha Díaz  Cuba	11.2	Wanda dos Santos  Brazil	11.5	Marian Munroe  Canada	11.5
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Isabelle Daniels Wilma Rudolph Lucinda Williams Barbara Jones	46.4	Panama Marcela Daniel Jean Holmes-Mitchell Carlota Gooden Silvia Hunte	48.2	Canada Heather Campbell Maureen Rever Sally McCallum Valerie Jerome	48.5
High jump details	Ann Marie Flynn  United States	1.61	Renata Friedrichs  Chile Alice Whitty  Canada	1.50	Not Awarded
Long jump details	Annie Smith  United States	5.74	Margaret Matthews  United States	5.73	Willye White  United States	5.70
Shot put details	Earlene Brown  United States	14.68	Sharon Shepherd  United States	13.48	Wanda Wejzgrowicz  United States	13.10
Discus throw details	Earlene Brown  United States	49.31	Pamela Kurrell  United States	42.19	Marjorie Larney  United States	42.18
Javelin throw details	Marlene Ahrens  Chile	45.38	Marjorie Larney  United States	43.65	Amelia Wood  United States	42.96

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	26	23	13	62
2	West Indies	2	3	5	10
3	Argentina (ARG)	1	1	0	2
	Brazil (BRA)	1	1	0	2
	Chile (CHI)	1	1	0	2
6	Cuba (CUB)	1	0	1	2
7	Canada (CAN)	0	2	6	8
8	Panama (PAN)	0	2	1	3
9	Venezuela (VEN)	0	1	0	1
10	Puerto Rico (PUR)	0	0	2	2
11	British Guiana	0	0	1	1
	Mexico (MEX)	0	0	1	1
Totals (12 entries)		32	34	30	96

Participating nations