| Event: | Men's long jump |
| Games: | 1979 |
| Venue: | Estadio Sixto Escobar |
| Dates: | 7 July |
| Win Value: | 8.18 |
| Win Label: | Winning distance |
| Gold: | João Carlos de Oliveira |
| Goldnoc: | BRA |
| Silver: | David Giralt |
| Silvernoc: | CUB |
| Bronze: | Carl Lewis |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 1975 |
| Next: | 1983 |
The men's long jump competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place on 7 July at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.[1] [2] The defending Pan American Games champion was João Carlos de Oliveira of Brazil.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:
| World record | 8.45 | Montreal, Canada | July 25, 1975 | ||
| Pan American Games record | 8.29 | Winnipeg, Canada | 1967 |
All distances shown are in meters.[3]
| KEY: | WR | World Record | GR | Pan American Record |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Distance[4] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João Carlos de Oliveira | 8.18 | ||||
| David Giralt | 8.15 | ||||
| Carl Lewis | 8.13 | ||||
| 4 | Altevir de Araújo | 7.73 | |||
| 5 | Ray Quiñones | 7.52 | |||
| 6 | Richard Rock | 7.31 | |||
| 7 | Agustín Neuland | 7.31 | |||
| 8 | Calvin Greenaway | 6.85 | |||
| Larry Myricks | |||||
| Dennis Trott | |||||
| Wilfredo Almonte | |||||
| Cornelius Everton | |||||
| Steve Hanna | |||||
| Ronald Chambers | |||||
| Alejandro Cardona | |||||
| Edgar Moreno | |||||
| José Salazar |