Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games – Women's high jump

{{Infobox Pan American Games event

|event = Women's high jump

|games = 1979

|caption =

|venue = Estadio Sixto Escobar

|dates = 13 July

|competitors =

|nations =

|win_value = 1.93

|win_label = Winning height

|gold = Louise Ritter

|goldNOC = USA

|silver = Pam Spencer

|silverNOC = USA

|bronze = Debbie Brill

|bronzeNOC = CAN

|prev = 1975

|next = 1983

}}

The women's high jump competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place on 13 July at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.{{cite book|title=Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979|date=1981|language=es|publisher=1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79)|page=197|url=https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|format=PDF|access-date=2019-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-11|url-status=dead}}[http://atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Pan-Am-Games-1979.pdf Full results] The defending Pan American Games champion was Joni Huntley of the United States.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

class="wikitable"

World record

|{{flagathlete|Sara Simeoni|ITA}}

|2.01

|Prague, Czechoslovakia

|August 31, 1978

Pan American Games record

|{{flagathlete|Joni Huntley|USA}}

|1.89

|Mexico City, Mexico

|1975

Results

All heights shown are in meters.{{cite book|title=Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979|date=1981|language=es|publisher=1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79)|page=261|url=https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|format=PDF|access-date=2019-08-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-11|url-status=dead}}

class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:90%;position:relative;" width=68%

KEY:

|align=center|WR

World Record

|align=center|GR

Pan American Record

=Final=

class="wikitable sortable"
Rank !Name !Nationality !Height !Notes
{{gold01}} \|Louise Ritter \|{{flagPASO\|USA\|1979}} \|1.93 \|GR
{{silver02}} \|Pam Spencer \|{{flagPASO\|USA\|1979}} \|1.87 \|
{{bronze03}} \|Debbie Brill \|{{flagPASO\|CAN\|1979}} \|1.85 \|
{{sort\|04\|4}} \|Julie White \|{{flagPASO\|CAN\|1979}} \|1.85 \|
{{sort\|05\|5}} \|Maria Domingues \|{{flagPASO\|BRA\|1979}} \|1.83 \|
{{sort\|06\|6}} \|Angela Carbonell \|{{flagPASO\|CUB\|1979}} \|1.81 \|
{{sort\|07\|7}} \|Elizabeth Huber \|{{flagPASO\|CHI\|1979}} \|1.74 \|
{{sort\|08\|8}} \|Silvia Costa \|{{flagPASO\|CUB\|1979}} \|1.74 \|
{{sort\|09\|9}} \|Liliana Arigoni \|{{flagPASO\|ARG\|1979}} \|1.74 \|
10 \|Rafaela Flores \|{{flagPASO\|PUR\|1979}} \|1.55 \|
{{hs\|99}} \|Ana Hidalgo \|{{flagPASO\|PUR\|1979}} \|{{sort\|0.00\|DNS}} \|

class="wikitable sortable"

Rank

!Name

!Nationality

!Height

!Notes

|Louise Ritter

|{{flagPASO|USA|1979}}

|1.93

|GR

|Pam Spencer

|{{flagPASO|USA|1979}}