1981 South American Championships in Athletics

The 1981 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Olímpico Hernando Siles in La Paz, Bolivia, between 5 and 8 November. The stadium was located 3600 metres above sea level, which is said to help the performance in some events.

It was the first edition to feature women's 400 metres hurdles.

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Katsuhiko Nakaia  Brazil	10.1A =CR	Altevir de Araújo  Brazil	10.3A	Luis Alberto Schneider  Chile	10.3A
200 metres	Paulo Correia  Brazil	20.2A CR	Héctor Daley  Panama	20.5A	Luis Alberto Schneider  Chile	20.5A
400 metres	Geraldo Pegado  Brazil	46.8A	Gerson de Souza  Brazil	47.8A	Pablo Squella  Chile	48.0A
800 metres	Cristián Molina  Chile	1:53.6A	José Luíz Barbosa  Brazil	1:54.7A	Wilson dos Santos  Brazil	1:55.9A
1500 metres	Emilio Ulloa  Chile	4:07.1A	Johnny Pérez  Bolivia	4:08.0A	Jaime Punina  Ecuador	4:09.0A
5000 metres	Víctor Mora  Colombia	15:23.9A	Silvio Salazar  Colombia	15:51.4A	Johnny Pérez  Bolivia	15:59.4A
10,000 metres	Víctor Mora  Colombia	31:56.4A	Silvio Salazar  Colombia	32:57.1A	Hugo Gavino  Peru	33:30.9A
Half marathon	Víctor Mora  Colombia	1:10:42A	Alfonso Torres  Colombia	1:13:20A	René Moldez  Bolivia	1:14:54A
110 metres hurdles	Juan Carlos Fuentes  Chile	14.2A	Wellington da Nobrega  Brazil	14.4A	Andrés Lyon  Chile	14.4A
400 metres hurdles	Antônio Dias Ferreira  Brazil	52.3A	Pablo Squella  Chile	52.7A	Donizete Soares  Brazil	53.0A
3000 metres steeplechase	Emilio Ulloa  Chile	9:53.2A	Johnny Pérez  Bolivia	9:54.2A	Elói Schleder  Brazil	10:19.8A
4 × 100 metres relay	Brazil Paulo Correia Paulo Lima Katsuhiko Nakaia Altevir de Araújo	39.6A CR	Chile Héctor Fernández Juan Carlos Fuentes Luis Alberto Schneider Francisco Pichott	40.4A	Peru Ronald Raborg Giorgio Mautino José Luis Valverde Marco Mautino	40.8A
4 × 400 metres relay	Brazil Agberto Guimarães Geraldo Pegado Gerson de Souza José Luíz Barbosa	3:09.5A	Chile Rodrigo Muñoz Pablo Squella Francisco Pichott Emilio Ulloa	3:11.8A	Argentina Jorge Díaz Nicolás Glass Raúl López Angel Gagliano	3:12.2A
20 kilometres road walk	Osvaldo Morejón  Bolivia	1:51:22A	Ernesto Alfaro  Colombia	1:52:52A	Waldemar da Silva  Brazil	1:53:10A
High jump	Jorge Archanjo  Brazil	2.15A CR	Cláudio Freire  Brazil	2.10A	Daniel Wolfberg  Chile	2.05A
Pole vault	Fernando Hoces  Chile	4.90A CR	Fernando Ruocco  Uruguay	4.70A	Renato Bortolocci  Brazil	4.60A
Long jump	Francisco Pichott  Chile	7.55A	Luís de Souza  Brazil	7.25A	Cláudio Flores  Brazil	7.25A
Triple jump	João Carlos de Oliveira  Brazil	17.05A CR	Francisco Pichott  Chile	16.23A	Angel Gagliano  Argentina	15.95A
Shot put	Gert Weil  Chile	17.48A	Juan Turri  Argentina	16.54A	José Jacques  Brazil	16.31A
Discus throw	José Jacques  Brazil	52.10A	Alejandro Serrano  Chile	48.94A	Andrés Pérez  Chile	45.44A
Hammer throw	Ivam Bertelli  Brazil	62.40A	Celso de Moraes  Brazil	61.22A	Daniel Gómez  Argentina	59.72A
Javelin throw	José de Souza  Brazil	75.02A CR	Luis Lucumí  Colombia	71.76A	Amilcar de Barros  Brazil	70.12A
Decathlon	Paulo Lima  Brazil	7383A	Claudio Escauriza  Paraguay	6702A	Fernando Brito  Brazil	6607A

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Carmela Bolívar  Peru	11.2A CR	Daisy Salas  Chile	11.4A	Sueli Machado  Brazil	11.4A
200 metres	Eucaris Caicedo  Colombia	23.6A	Sueli Machado  Brazil	23.8A	Carmela Bolívar  Peru	24.0A
400 metres	Eucaris Caicedo  Colombia	53.6A CR	Tânia Miranda  Brazil	55.7A	Silvia Augsburger  Argentina	56.0A
800 metres	Nancy González  Chile	2:17.7A	Luz Villa  Colombia	2:19.1A	Sandra Ferreira  Brazil	2:21.5A
1500 metres	Norma Vallejos  Chile	4:57.9A	Nancy Chiliquinga  Ecuador	5:01.9A	Mery Rojas  Bolivia	5:04.0A
3000 metres	Maricruz Sangines  Bolivia	11:04.2A CR	Norma Vallejos  Chile	11:09.0A	Mery Rojas  Bolivia	11:20.5A
100 metres hurdles	Juraciara da Silva  Brazil	13.5A CR	Nancy Vallecilla  Ecuador	13.8A	Beatriz Capotosto  Argentina	13.9A
400 metres hurdles	Conceição Geremias  Brazil	60.0A CR	Nancy Vallecilla  Ecuador	62.2A	Maria Ferreira  Brazil	62.7A
4 × 100 metres relay	Brazil Juraciara da Silva Conceição Geremias Sueli Machado Sheila de Oliveira	45.3A CR	Peru Margarita Bustios Carmela Bolivár Rocío Roca Brigitte Winter	46.7A (NR)	Argentina Susana Jenkins Araceli Bruschini María Sol Besada Beatriz Capotosto	46.9A
4 × 400 metres relay	Brazil Tânia Miranda Sheila de Oliveira Sueli Machado Elba Barbosa	3:49.4A	Argentina Silvia Augsburger María Sol Besada Beatriz Capotosto Anabella Dal Lago	3:51.0A	Chile Nancy González Leslie Cooper Patricia Pérez Graciela Mardones	3:59.3A
High jump	Ana Maria Marcon  Brazil	1.84A CR	Beatriz Bonfim  Brazil	1.77A	Liliana Arigoni  Argentina	1.71A
Long jump	Conceição Geremias  Brazil	6.26A CR	Araceli Bruschini  Argentina	6.22A	Graciela Acosta  Uruguay	5.97A
Shot put	Marinalva dos Santos  Brazil	14.80A	Maria Fernandes  Brazil	13.18A	Patricia Guerrero  Peru	12.97A
Discus throw	Odete Domingos  Brazil	47.62A	Selene Saldarriaga  Colombia	44.22A	Gloria Martínez  Chile	41.36A
Javelin throw	Marli dos Santos  Brazil	50.52A	Carolina Weil  Chile	49.96A	Ana María Campillay  Argentina	47.70A
Heptathlon	Yvonne Neddermann  Argentina	5451A AR	Olga Verissimo  Brazil	5116A	Paola Raab  Chile	5081

A = affected by altitude

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Brazil (BRA)	21	12	12	45
2	Chile (CHI)	9	8	9	26
3	Colombia (COL)	5	7	0	12
4	Bolivia (BOL)	2	2	4	8
5	Argentina (ARG)	1	3	8	12
6	Peru (PER)	1	1	4	6
7	Ecuador (ECU)	0	3	1	4
8	Uruguay (URU)	0	1	1	2
9	Panama (PAN)	0	1	0	1
	Paraguay (PAR)	0	1	0	1
Totals (10 entries)		39	39	39	117

• 1981 in athletics (track and field)

• Men Results – GBR Athletics
• Women Results – GBR Athletics
• Medallists