1979 San Juan Pan American Games

1979 San Juan Pan American Games
Official logo
City	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Team Gold Medalist	Canada
All-Around Gold Medalist	Monica Goermann (CAN)
Vault Gold Medalist	Jackie Cassello (USA)
Uneven Bars Gold Medalist	Monica Goermann (CAN)
Balance Beam Gold Medalist	Sherry Hawco (CAN)
Floor Exercise Gold Medalist	Jeanine Creek (USA)
Preceded by	1975 Mexico City Pan American Games
Succeeded by	1983 Caracas Pan American Games

The 1979 Pan American Games were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico from July 1 to July 15, 1979. The capital of Puerto Rico played host to 3,700 athletes from 34 countries competing in 22 sports, making the VIII Pan American Games the largest to date. Security was a concern due to turmoil over the issue of Puerto Rico's political status. The CBS television network broadcast twelve hours of coverage in the United States. The 1980 documentary film A Step Away showcased a number of athletes competing in the Games.

Format of Competition

The format was very similar to that of the Olympic Games. It was carried out in three stages:

• Competition I - The team competition/qualification round in which all gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, performed both compulsory and optional exercises. The combined scores of all team members determined the final score of the team. The thirty-six highest scoring gymnasts in the all-around qualified to the individual all-around competition. The six highest scoring gymnasts on each apparatus qualified to the final for that apparatus.
• Competition II - The individual all-around competition, in which those who qualified from Competition I performed exercises on each apparatus. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast during Competition I and all of the points earned by her in Competition II.
• Competition III - The apparatus finals, in which those who qualified during Competition I performed an exercise on the individual apparatus on which she had qualified. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast on that particular apparatus during Competition I and all of the points earned by her on that particular apparatus in Competition III.

Results

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Team	Canada Monica Goermann Elfi Schlegel Sherry Hawco Diana Carnegie Ellen Stewart Carmen Alie Shannon Fleming	Cuba Tania González Elsa Chivas Orisel Martínez Vicenta Cruzata Zulma Rodríguez Anet Rubido Ileana Pérez	Brazil Esther Thomas Gabriela Apellaniz Michelle Popoff Olga Brito Estela de la Torre Patricia Garcia Ivonne Chirino Barcelo
All-Around	Monica Goermann Canada (CAN)	Jeanine Creek United States of America (USA)	Elfi Schlegel Canada (CAN)
Vault	Jackie Cassello United States of America (USA)	Elfi Schlegel Canada (CAN)	Elsa Chivas Cuba (CUB) Tania Gonzalez Cuba (CUB)
Uneven Bars	Monica Goermann Canada (CAN)	Elfi Schlegel Canada (CAN)	Tania Gonzalez Cuba (CUB)
Balance Beam	Sherry Hawco Canada (CAN)	Jackie Cassello United States of America (USA)	Elsa Chivas Cuba (CUB) Monica Goermann Canada (CAN)
Floor Exercise	Jeanine Creek United States of America (USA)	Heidi Anderson United States of America (USA)	Monica Goermann Canada (CAN)

Medal Count

Rank	Country				Total
1	Canada	4	2	3	9
2	USA	2	3	0	5
3	Cuba	0	1	4	5
4	Brazil	0	0	1	1