History
South American Athletics Championships is second oldest active global athletics championships after the Olympics. The first initiative to form CONSUDATLE (South American Athletics Union) was in 1918, one year before start of Sudamericana Atletismo. In very first occasion, only three nation - Uruguay, Chile and non-federated Argentinians - competed in trial edition. First "official" championship held in Montevideo subsequent year. Uruguay and Chile are only two contested nations for inaugural 1919 edition, then Argentina included to event one year later. Brazil briefly contested with the trio in 1922 the year the nation's centenary year of liberation, but it's not counting an official appearance. The founding trio (Chile, Uruguay & Argentina) continued to compete at the event until 1929, the year Peru hosted the event. Two years later Peru's inauguration, Brazil officially added to the championships in 1931.
At the decade of 1940's, Argentina's women led the competitions mostly and distinguished some of the important talents from Latin World. One of the first names come to the mind was multi-talented Noemi Simonetto who collected 17 medals in four editions. Later than, Simonetto also would became first ever Argentinian female Olympic medallist after taking long jump silver in London 1948. Brazil reasserted to event during 1950's with simultaneously in the country's athletics boom. Ademar da Silva, Jose Telles da Conceiçao, Ulises dos Santos was amongst the stars in Brazilian blossoming in that era.
The championship was held in Cali in 1963. In that year, Venezuela became a sensation by taking top spot – their only leadership in champ' history - despite their relatively newcomer status at the continent's athletics map. While sprint star Arqimedes Herrera leaves from double CR, even more importantly, Hector Thomas crowned three golds as completed rare triple in long jump, javelin throw and decathlon (won by nearly 600-pts gap!).
Starting from 1967 edition, Brazil has been proved their undisputed dominance while they held top position for 28 consecutive championships (as 2019). They amassed more than 1600 medals in championships history, one-third more from closest rival, Argentina.
MOST SUCCESSFUL ATHLETES
15-4-0 Elisangela Adriano (BRA)
14-7-5 Conceiçao Geremias (BRA)
14-6-1 Lucimar de Moura (BRA)
13-1-1 Manuel Plaza (CHI)
13-0-0 Jose Bento de Assis (BRA)
11-3-3 Noemi Simoenetto (ARG)
11-2-3 Jose Vicente Salinas (CHI)
11-2-0 Osvaldo Suarez (ARG)
11-1-0 Robson da Silva (BRA)
10-4-3 Jose Telles de Conceicao (BRA)
10-3-3 Wanda dos Santos (BRA)
10-1-0 Silvina Perreira (BRA)
10-0-2 Valerio Vallania (BRA)
10-0-1 Eronilde de Araujo (BRA)
MOST MEDALS IN TOTAL
26 Conceiçao Geremias (14-7-5)
21 Jose Carlos Jacques (7-8-6)
21 Lucimara de Moura (14-6-1)
19 Elisangela Adriano (15-4-0)
17 Noemi Simeonetto (11-3-3)
17 Jose Telles de Conceicao (10-4-3)
MOST WINS IN ONE EVENT
9 Juan Ignacio Cerra (ARG), Men's HT
8 Elisangela Adriano (BRA), Women's SP
8 Gert Weil (CHI), Men's SP
6 German Lauro (ARG), Men's SP
6 Robson da Silva (BRA), Men's 200m
6 Lucimara de Moura (BRA), Women's 100m
6 Wanda dos Santos (BRA), Women's 80m
6 Orlane dos Santos (BRA), Women's HJ
6 Maureen Higa Maggi (BRA), Women's LJ
LONGEST STREAK BY A COUNTRY
18 Brazil in Women's HJ (1961-1995)
15 Brazil in Men's 200m (1974-2001)
15 Argentina in Men's HT (1985-2011)
12 Brazil in Men's 110H (1983-2005)
9 Brazil in Men's 800m (1995-2009)
9 Brazil in Women's LJ (1997-2009)
9 Argentina in Men's 800m (1920-1937)
9 Brazil in Women's 800m (1987-2003)
8 Brazil in Men's 100m (1974-1987)
8 Brazil in Men's TJ (1991-2005)
8 Brazil in Men's 4x100m (1995-2008)
OLDEST ACTIVE CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS
Men's 400H: Eronilde Nunes (BRA), 48.63 in Manaus 1995
Women's LJ: Maureen Higa Maggi (BRA), 7.26 in Bogota 1999
Women's SP: Elisangela Adriano (BRA) 19.02m in Bogota 1999
Full championship record list on Wikipedia
+
Stats by Athleticspodium.com / Contributor: Luis Vinker (ARG)
Panama 
Guyana 
Surinam 
Netherlands Antilles 
