1955 Pan American Games

The second Pan American Games opened on March 12, 1955, in the University Stadium (now Olympic Stadium) in Mexico City, Mexico, in front of a capacity crowd of 100,000 spectators.

II Pan American Games

Poster of the 1955 Pan American Games.
Host city	Mexico City, Mexico
Nations	22
Athletes	2,583
Events	146 in 17 sports
Opening	March 12
Closing	March 26
Opened by	President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines
Stadium	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
← 1951 Buenos Aires 1959 Chicago →

A total number of 2,583 athletes from 22 nations marched in review and formed ranks upon the infield.[1] The nations paraded into the stadium in Spanish alphabetical order: Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Mexico.[2][3] The hot sun, combined with the high altitude, caused two members of the U.S. team to collapse. Both quickly recovered.

Host city selection

On March 6, 1951, PASO selected Mexico City over Guatemala City to host the II Pan American Games. Seventeen of the eighteen countries participated in the vote, with El Salvador abstaining. Guatemala City received two votes, one from Guatemala and one from Mexico, and Mexico City received the remaining fifteen votes.[4][5]

Medal table

  *   Host nation (Mexico)

Rank	MEX	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	81	58	38	177
2	Argentina (ARG)	27	32	17	76
3	Mexico (MEX)*	18	10	31	59
4	Chile (CHI)	4	7	13	24
5	Canada (CAN)	4	4	3	11
6	Venezuela (VEN)	2	5	9	16
7	Brazil (BRA)	2	3	12	17
8	Colombia (COL)	2	3	1	6
9	Cuba (CUB)	1	4	8	13
10	Panama (PAN)	1	1	0	2
11	Guatemala (GUA)	1	0	1	2
12	Dominican Republic (DOM)	1	0	0	1
13	Uruguay (URU)	0	6	2	8
14	Puerto Rico (PUR)	0	2	2	4
15	Jamaica (JAM)	0	2	1	3
16	Netherlands Antilles (AHO)	0	1	2	3
17	Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)	0	1	1	2
Totals (17 MEXs)		144	139	141	424

Sports

Athletics (29) () Baseball (1) () Basketball (2) () Boxing (10) () Cycling () Road (2) Track (3) Diving (8) ()

Equestrian (5) () Fencing (7) () Football (1) () Gymnastics () Artistic Gymnastics (12) Modern pentathlon (2) () Rowing (5) () Shooting (16) ()

Swimming (21) () Synchronized swimming (3) () Tennis (5) () Volleyball (2) () Water polo (1) () Weightlifting (7) () Wrestling (8) ()

References

1. "II Pan American Games". la84foundation.org. Archived from the original on 2010-05-06. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
2. The History of the Pan American Games Curtis Ray Emery, 1964
3. Jornal dos Sports (1955) (in Portuguese)
4. "Los segundos Juegos Panamericanos serán en México en 1955" [The second Pan American Games will be in Mexico in 1955]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina. UP. 7 March 1951. p. 15. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
5. "Mexico Site Of 1955 Games". Reno Evening Gazette. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 7 March 1955. p. 14. Retrieved 7 February 2019.

Preceded by Buenos Aires

II Pan American Games Mexico City (1955)

Succeeded by Chicago