Robson da Silva in action (© Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF)
Barquisimeto, Venezuela For the first time in the history of the country, Venezuela will host this weekend the 42nd edition of the South American Championships, the oldest area championships in the World. The venue will be the “Estadio Máximo Viloria” in the city of Barquisimeto, capital of the State of Lara.
Barquisimeto was founded in 1552 by Juan de Villegas, under the name of “Nueva Segovia de Buría”. The city is located at an altitude of 552 meters above sea level, and has a population of approximately 800,000.
The rich history of the South American Championships started in Montevideo, Uruguay, back in 1919. In those championships, only Uruguay, Chile and Argentina took part. Brazil competed in the event for the first time in the 7th edition, which took place in Buenos Aires in 1931.
The event has been held biannually since 1961, with the exception of 1973, when the competition was moved to 1974, but then it continued its periodicity in 1975.
The first time women competed was in the 11th edition, which happened in Lima, Peru.
Since 1919, the biggest names of the athletics history of the continent left their mark in the event, with names such as Luis Antonio Brunetto (ARG), Manuel Plaza (CHI), Juan Carlos Zabala (ARG), Delfo Cabrera (ARG), Noemí Simonetto (ARG), José Telles da Conceição (BRA), Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (BRA), Arnoldo Devonish (VEN), Marlene Ahrens (CHI), Nelson Prudêncio (BRA), João Carlos de Oliveira (BRA), Joaquim Cruz (BRA), Robson Caetano da Silva (BRA), Ximena Restrepo (COL) and Jefferson Pérez (ECU), which are all of South American Olympic medalists -along with Panama’s Lloyd LaBeach.
Those greats, along with others, have enriched the history of this traditional event.
Santiago de Chile has been the most repeated venue, by hosting 7 editions, and Brazil has been the dominating country since 1974. Actually, the last country to take an overall title was Venezuela in Santiago de Chile 1974, when they won the men’s competition. Since then, it’s been all “verdeamarelho”.
The athletes with most individual titles are Manuel Plaza and Osvaldo Suárez (ARG) with 11, followed by Robson da Silva with 10 and Valerio Vallania (ARG) with 9, on the men’s side.
Conceição Aperecida Geremias with 10 is the most decorated women, followed by Alejandra Ramos (CHI) with 9, and Brazil’s Silvina das Graças Pereira, Wanda dos Santos and Elisângela Adriano with 8.
No world records have been set at the event, though Adhemar Ferreira da Silva was 1cm short of the Triple Jump WR in 1954. Adhemar had won the Olympic title in Helsinki ’52 with a mark of 16.22m, but Soviet Leonid Shcherbakov jumped 16.23 in Moscow on July 19, 1953 to improve that performance.
At the 18th edition of the South American’s in São Paulo, Adhemar jumped 16.22, to equal his own personal record on April 21st, and one year later, at the 2nd edition of the Pan American Games in Ciudad de México, the great Brazilian leaped to 16.56m, a World Record that stood for 3 years, and was his all-time best.
In recent years, Maurren Higa Maggi also obtained a remarkable performance in the Long Jump, by registering 7.26 in Bogotá ’99. That mark led the World Lists that year, and placed her in the 9th in the all-time rankings.
Last year, the South American Confederation (Consudatle) published a book with the history of all South American Championships. Edited by Edgardo Fontana, Winfried Kramer and Luis Vinker, the book has full results, details, statistics and profiles of the most important South American athletes.
The last edition took place in Manaus, Brazil in 2001. There the hosts won 33 gold medals (and a total of 69), followed by Argentina with 5 (17 in total).
Brazil comes to Barquisimeto with a very powerful team, which includes sprinters André da Silva, Claudinei da Silva, Geisa Coutinho, and jumpers like Maggi or Jadel Gregório.
Argentina has its best hopes of gold in throwers Marcelo Pugliese and Juan Cerra, and vaulter Alejandra García, Chile in putter Marco Antonio Verni, Colombia in Zuleima Araméndiz and Sabina Moya in the Javelin, and Venezuela in the men’s Javelin with Manuel Fuenmayor.
The competition starts on Friday 20th and will end on Sunday 22nd.
South American Championships – Championships Records
Men
100m |
10.16A/0.4 |
André Domingos da Silva |
BRA |
Bogotá (heats) |
1999 |
200m |
20.44A |
Robson Caetano da Silva |
BRA |
Medellín |
1989 |
400m |
45.11 |
Sanderlei Claro Parrela |
BRA |
Manaus |
2001 |
800m |
1:46.16 |
José Luiz Barbosa |
BRA |
Manaus |
1995 |
1500m |
3:36.47 |
Hudson Santos de Souza |
BRA |
Manaus |
2001 |
5000m |
13:51.66 |
Ronaldo da Costa |
BRA |
Manaus |
1995 |
10000m |
28:37.2 |
Antonio Silio |
ARG |
Lima |
1993 |
100mh |
13.64/0.0 |
Márcio Simão de Souza |
BRA |
Manaus |
2001 |
400mh |
48.63 |
Eronilde Nunes de Araújo |
BRA |
Manaus |
1995 |
3000m St |
8:35.40 |
Wander do Prado Moura |
BRA |
Mar del Plata |
1997 |
HJ |
2.26 |
Gilmar Mayo |
COL |
Mar del Plata |
1997 |
2.26A |
Fabrício de Azevedo Romero |
BRA |
Bogotá (1º) |
1999 | |
2.26A |
Gilmar Mayo |
COL |
Bogotá (2º) |
1999 | |
PV |
5.40 |
Javier Benítez |
ARG |
Manaus |
2001 |
LJ |
8.05/0.9 |
Douglas de Souza |
BRA |
Manaus (1º) |
1995 |
8.05/0.4 |
Nelson Carlos Ferreira |
BRA |
Manaus (2º) |
1995 | |
TJ |
17.21 |
Anísio Souza Silva |
BRA |
Lima |
1993 |
SP |
20.14 |
Gert Weil |
CHI |
Santiago de Chile |
1985 |
DT |
59.46 |
Ramón Jiménez Gaona |
PAR |
Lima |
1993 |
HT |
73.95 |
Juan Ignacio Cerra |
ARG |
Manaus |
2001 |
JT |
78.89A |
Nery Kennedy |
PAR |
Bogotá |
1999 |
Decathlon |
7564 |
Édson Luques Bindilatti |
BRA |
Manaus |
2001 |
11.13/-0.6 6.96/-0.9 12.46 | |||||
4x100m |
38.46A |
Brazil |
Bogotá |
1999 | |
Raphael de Oliveira, | |||||
4x400m |
3:02.09A |
Brazil |
Bogotá |
1999 | |
Eronilde de Araújo, | |||||
20.000m W |
1:23:06.8 |
Héctor Moreno |
COL |
Mar del Plata |
1997 |
Women | |||||
100m |
11.17A/1.3 |
Lucimar Aparecida de Moura |
BRA |
Bogotá (heats) |
1999 |
11.17A/0.3 |
Lucimar Aparecida de Moura |
BRA |
Bogotá (final) |
1999 | |
200m |
22.60A/1.6 |
Lucimar Aparecida de Moura |
BRA |
Bogotá |
1999 |
400m |
51.56 |
Maria Magnólia Figueirêdo |
BRA |
Manaus |
1991 |
800m |
2:00.04 |
Luciana de Paula Mendes |
BRA |
Manaus |
1991 |
1500m |
4:19.18 |
Rita de Cássia Santos de Jesus |
BRA |
Manaus |
1991 |
5000m |
15:48.82 |
Stella Castro |
COL |
Mar del Plata |
1997 |
10000m |
33:24.07 |
Stella Castro |
COL |
Mar del Plata |
1997 |
100mh |
12.71/0.1 |
Maurren Higa Maggi |
BRA |
Manaus |
2001 |
400mh |
57.16 |
Liliana Chalá |
ECU |
Manaus |
1991 |
HJ |
1.89 |
Orlane Maria Lima dos Santos |
BRA |
Manaus |
1991 |
1.89 |
Solange Witteveen |
ARG |
Mar del Plata |
1997 | |
PV |
4.30A |
Alejandra García |
ARG |
Bogotá |
1999 |
LJ |
7.26/1.8 |
Maurren Higa Maggi |
BRA |
Bogotá |
1999 |
TJ |
13.91/1.3 |
Andrea Ávila |
ARG |
Lima |
1993 |
SP |
19.02A |
Elisângela Maria Adriano |
BRA |
Bogotá |
1999 |
DT |
60.27A |
Elisângela Maria Adriano |
BRA |
Bogotá |
1999 |
HT |
60.83 |
Karina Moya |
ARG |
Manaus |
2001 |
JT |
58.81A |
Sabina Moya |
COL |
Bogotá |
1991 |
Heptathlon |
5741A |
Euzinete Reis |
BRA |
Bogotá |
1999 |
13.97/0.0 1.72 12.47 | |||||
4x100m |
44.12A |
Colombia |
Bogotá |
1999 | |
Norfalia Carabalí, | |||||
4x400m |
3:32.43 |
Brazil |
Manaus |
2001 | |
Maria Laura Almirão, | |||||