Athletics at the 1955 Pan American Games
Dates	13–19 March
Host city	Mexico City, Mexico
Venue	Estadio Universitario
Level	Senior
Events	29
Participation	242 athletes from 20 nations
← Buenos Aires 1951 Chicago 1959 → 1955 Pan American Games

The athletics competition at the 1955 Pan American Games was held in Mexico City, Mexico.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Rod Richard  United States	10.3A GR	Mike Agostini  Trinidad and Tobago	10.4A	Willie Williams  United States	10.4A
200 metres	Rod Richard  United States	20.94A GR	Charles Thomas  United States	21.42A	José Telles da Conceição  Brazil Mike Agostini  Trinidad and Tobago	21.66A 21.67A
400 metres	Lou Jones  United States	45.68A WR	Jim Lea  United States	45.78A	Jesse Mashburn  United States	46.44A
800 metres	Arnie Sowell  United States	1:49.86A GR	Lon Spurrier  United States	1:50.51A	Ramón Sandoval  Chile	1:52.52A
1500 metres	Juan Miranda  Argentina	3:53.30A GR	Wes Santee  United States	3:53.44A	Fred Dwyer  United States	3:56.04A
5000 metres	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	15:30.6A	Horace Ashenfelter  United States	15:31.4A	Jaime Correa  Chile	15:39.2A
10,000 metres	Osvaldo Suárez  Argentina	32:42.6A	Vicente Sánchez  Mexico	33:00.4A	Jaime Correa  Chile	33:42.6A
Marathon	Doroteo Flores  Guatemala	2:59:10A	Onésimo Rodríguez  Mexico	3:02:22A	Luis Velásquez  Guatemala	3:05:26A
110 metres hurdles (wind: 0.0 m/s)	Jack Davis  United States	14.44A	Keith Gardner  Jamaica	14.74A	Evaristo Iglesias  Cuba	14.94A
400 metres hurdles	Josh Culbreath  United States	51.5A GR	Jaime Aparicio  Colombia	51.8A	Wilson Carneiro  Brazil	53.0A
3000 metres steeplechase	Guillermo Solá  Chile	9:46.8A	Santiago Novas  Chile	9:50.4A	Eligio Galicia  Mexico	9:54.2A
4 × 100 metres relay	United States Willie Williams John Bennett Charles Thomas Rod Richard	40.96A GR	Venezuela Clive Bonas Apolinar Solórzano Guillermo Gutiérrez Juan Leiva	41.36A	Mexico Alberto Goya René Ahumada Javier Souza Sergio Higuera	41.94A
4 × 400 metres relay	United States Jesse Mashburn Lon Spurrier Jim Lea Lou Jones	3:07.43A GR	Jamaica Keith Gardner Richard Stick Mel Spence Allan Moore	3:12.63A	Venezuela Guillermo Gutiérrez Apolinar Solórzano Evaristo Edie Juan Leiva	3:15.93A
High jump	Ernie Shelton  United States	2.01A GR	Herman Wyatt  United States	2.01A	José Telles da Conceição  Brazil	1.91A
Pole vault	Bob Richards  United States	4.50A =GR	Bobby Smith  United States	4.30A	Don Laz  United States	4.30A
Long jump	Rosslyn Range  United States	8.03A GR	John Bennett  United States	8.01A	Ary de Sá  Brazil	7.84A
Triple jump	Adhemar da Silva  Brazil	16.56A WR	Asnoldo Devonish  Venezuela	16.13A	Víctor Hernández  Cuba	15.60A
Shot put	Parry O'Brien  United States	17.59A GR	Fortune Gordien  United States	15.98A	Marty Engel  United States	14.62A
Discus throw	Fortune Gordien  United States	53.10A GR	Parry O'Brien  United States	51.07A	Hernán Haddad  Chile	47.14A
Hammer throw	Bob Backus  United States	54.91A GR	Marty Engel  United States	53.36A	Elvio Porta  Argentina	51.45A
Javelin throw	Franklin "Bud" Held  United States	69.77A GR	Ricardo Héber  Argentina	66.15A	Reinaldo Oliver  Puerto Rico	65.56A
Decathlon	Rafer Johnson  United States	6994A	Bob Richards  United States	6886A	Hernán Figueroa  Chile	5740A

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
60 metres	Bertha Díaz  Cuba	7.5A	Isabelle Daniels  United States	7.6A	Mabel Landry  United States	7.6A
100 metres	Barbara Jones  United States	11.90A GR	Mae Faggs  United States	12.07A	María Luisa Castelli  Argentina	12.38A
80 metres hurdles	Eliana Gaete  Chile	11.7A	Bertha Díaz  Cuba	11.8A	Wanda dos Santos  Brazil	11.8A
4 × 100 metres relay	United States Isabelle Daniels Mabel Landry Mae Faggs Barbara Jones	47.12A GR	Argentina Lilián Heinz Lilián Buglia Gladys Erbetta María Luisa Castelli	47.27A	Chile Betty Kretschmer Carmen Venegas Eliana Gaete Elda Selamé	49.49A
High jump	Mildred McDaniel  United States	1.685A	Deyse de Castro  Brazil	1.59A	Verneeda Thomas  United States	1.59A
Discus throw	Ingeborg Pfüller  Argentina	43.19A GR	Isabel Avellán  Argentina	40.06A	Alejandrina Herrera  Cuba	38.00A
Javelin throw	Karen Anderson  United States	49.15A	Estrella Puente  Uruguay	43.43A	Amelia Wershoven  United States	43.06A

A = affected by altitude

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	20	14	8	42
2	Argentina	4	3	2	9
3	Chile	2	1	6	9
4	Brazil	1	1	5	7
5	Cuba	1	1	3	5
6	Guatemala	1	0	1	2
7	Mexico	0	2	2	4
8	Venezuela	0	2	1	3
9	Jamaica	0	2	0	2
10	Trinidad and Tobago	0	1	1	2
11	Colombia	0	1	0	1
	Uruguay	0	1	0	1
13	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		29	29	30	88

Participating nations

References

• Olderr, Steven (2009). The Pan American Games: A Statistical History, 1951-1999, bilingual edition. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786443367. ISBN 978-0-7864-4336-9.
• GBR Athletics: Pan American Games
• Sports 123: Athletics at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-10-04)