Athletics at the 1971 Pan American Games
Dates	30 July – 5 August
Host city	Cali, Colombia
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero
Level	Senior
Events	37
Participation	375 athletes from 28 nations
Records set	1 WR, 19 GR
← Winnipeg 1967 Mexico City 1975 → 1971 Pan American Games

The athletics competition at the 1971 Pan American Games was held in Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia. At almost exactly 1000 metres elevation, all the marks from this meet marginally qualify as "altitude assisted."

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: 0.0 m/s) details	Don Quarrie  Jamaica	10.29	Lennox Miller  Jamaica	10.32	Del Meriwether  United States	10.34
200 metres (wind: +1.0 m/s) details	Don Quarrie  Jamaica	19.86 GR	Marshall Dill  United States	20.39	Edwin Roberts  Trinidad and Tobago	20.39
400 metres details	John Smith  United States	44.60 GR	Fred Newhouse  United States	45.09	Fernando Acevedo  Peru	45.30 NR
800 metres details	Ken Swenson  United States	1:48.08 GR	Art Sandison  United States	1:48.42	Byron Dyce  Jamaica	1:48.42
1500 metres details	Marty Liquori  United States	3:42.10 GR	Bill Smart  Canada	3:43.39	Jim Crawford  United States	3:43.76
5000 metres details	Steve Prefontaine  United States	13:52.53	Steve Stageberg  United States	14:00.76	Mario Pérez  Mexico	14:03.98
10,000 metres details	Frank Shorter  United States	28:50.83 GR	Juan Martínez  Mexico	29:05.07	Álvaro Mejía  Colombia	29:06.97
Marathon details	Frank Shorter  United States	2:22:40	José García  Mexico	2:26:30	Hernán Barreneche  Colombia	2:27:19
110 metres hurdles (wind: +4.5 m/s) details	Rod Milburn  United States	13.46w	Arnaldo Bristol  Puerto Rico	13.81w	Juan Morales  Cuba	13.85w
400 metres hurdles details	Ralph Mann  United States	49.11 GR	Jim Seymour  United States	50.36	Jacinto Hidalgo  Venezuela	51.68
3000 metres steeplechase details	Mike Manley  United States	8:42.27	Sidney Sink  United States	8:42.90	Héctor Villanueva  Mexico	8:46.09
4 × 100 metres relay details	Jamaica Alfred Daley Carl Lawson Lennox Miller Don Quarrie	39.28	Cuba Barbaro Bandomo Pablo Montes Juan Morales Hermes Ramírez	39.84	United States Willie Deckard Marshall Dill Ron Draper Rod Milburn	39.84
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States Dale Alexander Fred Newhouse Tommy Turner John Smith	3:00.63 GR	Jamaica Leighton Priestley Trevor Campbell Alfred Daley Garth Case	3:03.98	Trinidad and Tobago Edwin Roberts Ben Cayenne Kent Bernard Trevor James	3:04.58
20 kilometres walk details	Goetz Klopfer  United States	1:37:30	Tom Dooley  United States	1:38:16	José Oliveros  Mexico	1:40:26
50 kilometres walk details	Larry Young  United States	4:38:31	Gabriel Hernández  Mexico	4:38:46	John Knifton  United States	4:42:15
High jump details	Pat Matzdorf  United States	2.10 m	Wilf Wedmann  Canada	2.10 m	Luis Arbulú  Peru	2.05 m
Pole vault details	Jan Johnson  United States	5.33 m	David Roberts  United States	5.20 m	Bruce Simpson  Canada	4.90 m
Long jump details	Arnie Robinson  United States	8.02 m	James "Bouncy" Moore  United States	7.98 m	Mike Mason  Canada	7.65 m
Triple jump details	Pedro Pérez  Cuba	17.40 m WR	Nelson Prudêncio  Brazil	16.82 m	John Craft  United States	16.32 m
Shot put details	Al Feuerbach  United States	19.76 m	Karl Salb  United States	19.10 m	Mike Mercer  Canada	18.01 m
Discus throw details	Dick Drescher  United States	62.26 m GR	Tim Vollmer  United States	61.06 m	Ain Roost  Canada	58.06 m
Hammer throw details	Al Hall  United States	65.84 m GR	George Frenn  United States	65.68 m	Darwin Piñeyrúa  Uruguay	61.54 m
Javelin throw details	Cary Feldmann  United States	81.52 m GR	Bill Skinner  United States	80.36 m	Amado Morales  Puerto Rico	76.14 m
Decathlon details	Rick Wanamaker  United States	7648 pts	Russ Hodge  United States	7314 pts	Jesús Mirabal  Cuba	7295 pts

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +3.0 m/s) details	Iris Davis  United States	11.25w	Stephanie Berto  Canada	11.40w	Silvia Chivás  Cuba	11.47w
200 metres (wind: 0.0 m/s) details	Stephanie Berto  Canada	23.57 =GR	Fulgencia Romay  Cuba	23.70	Esther Stroy  United States	23.82
400 metres details	Marilyn Neufville  Jamaica	52.34 GR	Carmen Trustée  Cuba	52.89	Yvonne Saunders  Jamaica	53.13
800 metres details	Abby Hoffman  Canada	2:05.54	Doris Brown  United States	2:05.90	Penny Werthner  Canada	2:06.32
100 metres hurdles (wind: +4.4 m/s) details	Patty Johnson  United States	13.19w	Marlene Elejalde  Cuba	13.54w	Penny May  Canada	13.70w
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Orien Brown Pat Hawkins Mattiline Render Iris Davis	44.59	Cuba Silvia Chivás Marlene Elejarde Fulgencia Romay Carmen Valdés	45.01	Colombia Aida Ortíz Ana Maquilón Elsy Rivas Juana Mosquera	45.99
4 × 400 metres relay details	United States Esther Stroy Mavis Laing Gwen Norman Cheryl Toussaint	3:32.45 GR	Cuba Beatriz Castillo Marcela Chibás Aurelia Pentón Carmen Trustée	3:34.04	Jamaica Beverly Franklin Ruth Williams Yvonne Saunders Marilyn Neufville	3:34.05
High jump details	Debbie Brill  Canada	1.85 m GR	Audrey Reid  Jamaica	1.75 m	Andrea Bruce  Jamaica	1.70 m
Long jump details	Brenda Eisler  Canada	6.34 m GR	Silvina Pereira  Brazil	6.35 m	Marina Samuells  Cuba	6.14 m
Shot put details	Lynn Graham  United States	15.76 m GR	Grecia Hamilton  Cuba	14.63 m	Rosa Molina  Chile	14.50 m
Discus throw details	Carmen Romero  Cuba	57.20 m GR	María Cristina Betancourt  Cuba	51.76 m	Carol Martin  Canada	50.04 m
Javelin throw details	Tomasa Núñez  Cuba	54.02 m GR	Sherry Calvert  United States	51.52 m	Roberta Brown  United States	50.94 m
Pentathlon details	Debbie Van Kiekebelt  Canada	4290 pts	Penny May  Canada	4112 pts	Aída dos Santos  Brazil	3887 pts

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	25	16	7	48
2	Canada	5	4	7	16
3	Jamaica	4	3	4	11
4	Cuba	3	8	4	15
5	Mexico	0	3	3	6
6	Brazil	0	2	1	3
7	Puerto Rico	0	1	1	2
8	Colombia	0	0	3	3
9	Peru	0	0	2	2
	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	2	2
11	Chile	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay	0	0	1	1
	Venezuela	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		37	37	37	111

Participating nations