The 1979 African Championships in Athletics were held in the Stade Iba Mar Diop^[1] in Dakar, Senegal, between 2 and 5 August. There were a total number of 251 competitors from 24 countries, with 23 men's and 16 women's events.

"a" denotes electronic timing was used.

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: -1.3 m/s)	Ernest Obeng  Ghana	10.54	Théophile Nkounkou  Congo	10.63	Edward Ofili  Nigeria	10.66
200 metres (wind: +1.2 m/s)	Edward Ofili  Nigeria	20.90	Georges Kablan Degnan  Côte d'Ivoire	21.14	Emmanuel Bitanga  Cameroon	21.18
400 metres	El Kashief Hassan  Sudan	45.34	James Atuti  Kenya	45.95	Billy Konchellah  Kenya	46.28
800 metres	James Maina  Kenya	1:48.8 a	Omer Khalifa  Sudan	1:49.3 a	Mehdi Aidet  Algeria	1:49.8 a
1500 metres	Mike Boit  Kenya	3:39.9 a	Abderrahmane Morceli  Algeria	3:40.1 a	Mehdi Aidet  Algeria	3:40.5 a
5000 metres	Miruts Yifter  Ethiopia	14:14.0 a	Yohannes Mohamed  Ethiopia	14:14.2 a	Kip Rono  Kenya	14:18.0 a
10000 metres	Miruts Yifter  Ethiopia	29:08.0 a	Yohannes Mohamed  Ethiopia	29:10.0 a	Rachid Habchaoui  Algeria	29:28.9 a
Marathon	Kebede Balcha  Ethiopia	2:29:53	Gidamis Shahanga  Tanzania	2:36:46	Ladislas Hakuzimana  Rwanda	2:54:28
3000 metre steeplechase	Kip Rono  Kenya	8:30.9 a	Eshetu Tura  Ethiopia	8:31.4 a	Yohannes Mohamed  Ethiopia	8:39.4 a
110 metres hurdles (wind: +2.2 m/s)	Godwin Obasogie  Nigeria	13.76 w	Philip Sang  Kenya	13.81 w	Thomas Nnakwe  Nigeria	14.03 w
400 metres hurdles	Daniel Kimaiyo  Kenya	50.05	Wilson Kibiego  Kenya	51.06	Dennis Otono  Nigeria	51.23
4 × 100 metres relay	Côte d'Ivoire Georges Kablan Degnan Amadou Meïté Avognan Nogboum Patrice Oure Etchie	39.80	Senegal Boubacar Diallo Cheikh Touradou Diouf Momar N'Dao Yoro Diba	41.60	Tanzania Ally Mwalimu David Lukuba Peter Mwita Juamne Chobanga	41.71
4 × 400 metres relay	Kenya James Atuti Billy Konchellah Daniel Kimaiyo Wilson Kibiego	3:08.2 a	Nigeria Hope Ezeigbo Dele Udo Ahmed Garba Ludwig Ordia	3:10.2 a	Senegal	3:11.5 a
10,000 metre track walk	Benamar Kachkouche  Algeria	48:50.8 a	Hunde Ture  Ethiopia	50:45.6 a	John Mutinda  Kenya	55:45.2 a
High jump	Othmane Belfaa  Algeria	2.15	Hamid Sahil  Algeria	2.13	Moussa Sagna Fall  Senegal	2.05
Pole vault	Mohamed Bensaad  Algeria	4.70	Loué Legbo  Côte d'Ivoire	4.60	Ahmed Rezki  Algeria	4.50
Long jump	Ajayi Agbebaku  Nigeria	7.94	Kayode Elegbede  Nigeria	7.89	Joseph Kio  Nigeria	7.78
Triple jump	Ajayi Agbebaku  Nigeria	16.82 w	Abdoulaye Diallo  Senegal	16.42 w	Joseph Kio  Nigeria	16.25 w
Shot put	Youssef Nagui Asaad  Egypt	20.32	Mohamed Fatihi  Morocco	15.80	Abderrazak Ben Hassine  Tunisia	14.42
Discus throw	Abderrazak Ben Hassine  Tunisia	54.60	Mohamed Naguib Hamed  Egypt	54.40	Harrison Salami  Nigeria	53.10
Hammer throw	Abdellah Boubekeur  Algeria	56.02	Youssef Ben Abid  Tunisia	53.84	Hisham Fouad Greiss  Egypt	49.10
Javelin throw	Jacques Ayé Abehi  Côte d'Ivoire	76.74	Zakayo Malekwa  Tanzania	76.06	Tarek Chaabani  Tunisia	75.20
Decathlon	Mohamed Bensaad  Algeria	7148	Ebewele Brown  Nigeria	7043	Alioune Seck  Senegal	6741

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres (wind: +2.2 m/s)	Oguzoeme Nsenu  Nigeria	11.53 w	Hannah Afriyie  Ghana	11.56 w	Nzaeli Kyomo  Tanzania	11.59 w
200 metres (wind: +1.6 m/s)	Hannah Afriyie  Ghana	23.81	Nzaeli Kyomo  Tanzania	24.48	Ruth Waithera  Kenya	24.66
400 metres	Grace Bakari  Ghana	53.33	Marième Boye  Senegal	54.52	Mary Chemweno  Kenya	55.41
800 metres	Mary Chemweno  Kenya	2:08.4 a	Rose Tata  Kenya	2:10.9 a	Amsala Woldegebriel  Ethiopia	2:11.9 a
1500 metres	Sakina Boutamine  Algeria	4:23.6 a	Rose Thomson  Kenya	4:25.0 a	Hassania Darami  Morocco	4:26.5 a
3000 metres	Sakina Boutamine  Algeria	9:31.1 a	Rose Thomson  Kenya	9:32.1 a	Hassania Darami  Morocco	9:39.7 a
100 metres hurdles (wind: -1.1 m/s)	Judy Bell-Gam  Nigeria	14.13	Bella Bell-Gam  Nigeria	14.36	Fatima El Faquir  Morocco	14.52
400 metres hurdles	Fatima El Faquir  Morocco	59.73	Rose Tata  Kenya	59.85	Ruth Kyalisima  Uganda	60.41
4 × 100 metres relay	Ghana Hannah Afriyie Grace Bakari Jeanette Yawson Jeanette Ofusu	45.63	Nigeria Obuzoene Nsenu Rufina Ubah Fosa Ibini Alaba Ojumola	46.45	Senegal Marième Boye Françoise Damado Fatou Cissoko Maty N'Diaye	50.23
4 × 400 metres relay	Ghana Hannah Afriyie Grace Bakari Georgina Aidou Gladys Konadu	3:41.8 a	Kenya Rose Tata-Muya Ruth Waithera Mary Chemweno ?	3:46.1 a	Nigeria Gloria Ayanyala Kehinde Vaughan Asele Woy Joan Elumelu	3:54.9 a
High jump	Kawther Akrémi  Tunisia	1.69	Elizabeth Ezo  Nigeria	1.69	Fernande Agnentchoué  Gabon	1.63
Long jump	Bella Bell-Gam  Nigeria	6.24	Florence Ochonogor  Nigeria	6.18	Jeanette Yawson  Ghana	6.04
Shot put	Odette Mistoul  Gabon	13.45	Grace Apiafi  Nigeria	13.24	Joyce Aciro  Uganda	12.95
Discus throw	Zoubida Laayouni  Morocco	46.18	Fathia Jerbi  Tunisia	45.18	Helen Alyek  Uganda	43.04
Javelin throw	Agnès Tchuinté  Cameroon	50.20	Eunice Nekesa  Kenya	49.98	Constance Rwabiryagye  Uganda	41.64
Pentathlon	Bella Bell-Gam  Nigeria	3607	Florence Ochonogor  Nigeria	3524	Julie-Marie Gomis  Senegal	3409

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Nigeria (NGR)	8	9	7	24
2	Algeria (ALG)	7	2	4	13
3	Kenya (KEN)	6	9	5	20
4	Ghana (GHA)	5	1	1	7
5	Ethiopia (ETH)	3	4	2	9
6	Tunisia (TUN)	2	2	2	6
7	Ivory Coast (CIV)	2	2	0	4
8	Morocco (MAR)	2	1	3	6
9	Egypt (EGY)	1	1	1	3
10	Sudan (SUD)	1	1	0	2
11	Cameroon (CMR)	1	0	1	2
	Gabon (GAB)	1	0	1	2
13	Senegal (SEN)	0	3	5	8
14	Tanzania (TAN)	0	3	2	5
15	Congo (CGO)	0	1	0	1
16	Uganda (UGA)	0	0	4	4
17	Rwanda (RWA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (17 entries)		39	39	39	117

• Results – GBR Athletics