Mirroring the Olympic athletics programme, both men and women had very similar schedules of events.

Men competed in 24 events and women in 23, as their schedule lacks the 50 km race walk.

The hosts Mexico and the United States both won four events each, while Colombia had the third greatest medal haul with seventeen altogether.

Over the seven-day competition, fourteen Pan American Games records were equalled or bettered.

To register a second competitor, both athletes needed to have achieved the minimum standard performance.