Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games – Men's 200 metres explained

Event:	Men's 200 metres
Games:	1979
Venue:	Estadio Sixto Escobar
Dates:	9 & 10 July
Win Value:	20.37
Win Label:	Winning time
Gold:	Silvio Leonard
Goldnoc:	CUB
Silver:	James Gilkes
Silvernoc:	GUY
Bronze:	Don Coleman
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1975
Next:	1983

The men's 200 metres sprint competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place on 9 and 10 July at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.^{[1] [2]} The defending Pan American Games champion was James Gilkes of Guyana.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

World record		19.83	Mexico City, Mexico	October 16, 1968
Pan American Games record		19.8	Cali, Colombia	1971

Results

All times shown are in seconds.

KEY:

WR

World Record

GR

Pan American Record

Heats

Held on 9 July^[3]

Wind:
Heat 1: +2.8 m/s, Heat 2: +1.1 m/s, Heat 3: +0.1 m/s

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1			20.63	Q
2	1			20.63	Q
3	1			20.69	Q
4	2			20.84	Q
5	3			20.87	Q
6	1			20.90	Q
7	3			20.93	Q
8	2			21.06	Q
9	1			21.16	q
10	1			21.25	q
11	3			21.26	Q
12	2			21.38	Q
13	2			21.39	Q
14	2			21.54	q
15	3			21.56	Q
16	3			21.68	q
17	1			21.85
18	2			22.36
19	1			22.50
	2
	3
	3

Semifinals

Held on 9 July^[4]

Wind:
Heat 1: +1.1 m/s, Heat 2: +2.5 m/s

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2			20.45	Q
2	1			20.46	Q
3	1			20.65	Q
4	2			20.75	Q
5	2			20.78	Q
6	1			20.83	Q
7	2			20.86	q
8	2			20.89	q
9	1			21.00
10	2			21.11
11	2			21.21
12	2			21.24
13	1			21.33
14	1			21.40
15	1			21.43
16	1			21.47

Final

Held on 11 July

Wind: +3.9 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time^[5]	Notes
	Silvio Leonard		20.37
	James Gilkes		20.46
	Don Coleman		20.56
4	Altevir de Araújo		20.60
5	Floyd Brown		20.74
6	Desai Williams		20.98
7	Osvaldo Lara		21.00
8	Rudy Levarity		21.08

Notes and References

1. Book: Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979. 1981. es. 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 197. PDF. 2019-08-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf. 2019-08-11. dead.
2. http://atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Pan-Am-Games-1979.pdf Full results
3. atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Athletics-Annual-1981.pdf 1979 top list
4. News: Heats results . 30 December 2019 . . 10 July 1979 . 57.
5. Book: Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979. 1981. es. 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 248. PDF. 2019-08-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf. 2019-08-11. dead.