The 1981 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic between 10–12 July.

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Colin Bradford  Jamaica	10.30	Silvio Leonard  Cuba	10.34	Juan Núñez  Dominican Republic	10.47
200 metres	Juan Núñez  Dominican Republic	20.82	Don Quarrie  Jamaica	20.93	Héctor Daley  Panama	20.96
400 metres	Bert Cameron  Jamaica	45.05 CR	Héctor Daley  Panama	45.96	Alfred Browne  Antigua and Barbuda	46.68
800 metres	Alberto Juantorena  Cuba	1:47.59	Bárbaro Serrano  Cuba	1:48.08	Francisco Meléndez  Puerto Rico	1:48.35
1500 metres	Eduardo Castro  Mexico	3:43.30 CR	Ignacio Melesio  Mexico	2:43.40	Luis Medina  Cuba	3:44.10
5000 metres	Eduardo Castro  Mexico	14:08.88	Silvio Salazar  Colombia	14:12.06	Jacinto Navarrete  Colombia	14:12.33
10,000 metres	Silvio Salazar  Colombia	29:48.13 CR	Aldo Allen  Cuba	30:18.16	Héctor Díaz  Puerto Rico	30:22.06
Marathon	Radamés González  Cuba	2:23:15 CR	Jorge González  Puerto Rico	2:30:31	Manuel García  Mexico	2:31:02
110 metres hurdles	Alejandro Casañas  Cuba	13.85	Karl Smith  Jamaica	13.94	Modesto Castillo  Dominican Republic	14.20
400 metres hurdles	Jorge Batista  Cuba	50.58 CR	Frank Montiéh  Cuba	50.59	Greg Rolle  Bahamas	51.15
3000 metres steeplechase	Daniel Londa  Mexico	8:48.50 CR	Francisco Silva  Mexico	8:50.35	José Cobo  Cuba	8:53.97
4 × 100 metres relay	Jamaica Leroy Reid Colin Bradford Don Quarrie Floyd Brown	39.30	Trinidad and Tobago Andrew Bruce Scott Ferguson Christopher Brathwaite Ephraim Serrette	39.95	Cuba Osvaldo Lara Alejandro Casañas Silvio Leonard Tomás González	39.96
4 × 400 metres relay	Jamaica Floyd Brown Colin Bradford Carl Maylor Bert Cameron	3:06.95	Barbados	3:07.73	Cuba Lázaro Martínez Carlos Reyté Frank Montiéh Jorge Batista	3:08.34
20 km road walk	Félix Gómez  Mexico	1:30:12	Raúl González  Mexico	1:34:10	Querubín Moreno  Colombia	1:37:01
High jump	Francisco Centelles  Cuba	2.22	Clarence Saunders  Bermuda	2.22	Jorge Alfaro  Cuba	2.18
Pole vault	Rubén Camino  Cuba	5.00	Aurelio Falls  Cuba	4.70	Edgardo Rivera  Puerto Rico	4.60
Long jump	Ubaldo Duany  Cuba	7.76	David Giralt  Cuba	7.74	Salomón Rowe  Guatemala	7.60
Triple jump	Steve Hanna  Bahamas	16.76 CR	Alejandro Herrera  Cuba	16.29	Ernesto Torres  Puerto Rico	15.80
Shot put	Luis Delís  Cuba	19.36 CR	Radai Mendoza  Puerto Rico	17.19	Paul Ruiz  Cuba	16.40
Discus throw	Luis Delís  Cuba	64.38 CR	Bradley Cooper  Bahamas	62.32	Raúl Calderón  Cuba	55.42
Hammer throw	Alfredo Guillot  Cuba	58.34	Gerardo Díaz  Mexico	54.06	Ángel Cabrera  Puerto Rico	54.06
Javelin throw	Reinaldo Patterson  Cuba	75.28	Dionisio Quintana  Cuba	75.18	Juan de la Garza  Mexico	72.70
Decathlon	Rigoberto Salazar  Cuba	7181	Pedro Herrera  Cuba	6861	Sidney Cartwright  Bahamas	6500

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Lelieth Hodges  Jamaica	11.38 CR	Marie Lande Mathieu  Puerto Rico	11.64	Luisa Ferrer  Cuba	11.71
200 metres	Jackie Pusey  Jamaica	23.35 CR	Luisa Ferrer  Cuba	23.50	Eucaris Caicedo  Colombia	24.15
400 metres	Jackie Pusey  Jamaica	52.62 CR	Mercedes Álvarez  Cuba	53.51	Eucaris Caicedo  Colombia	53.93
800 metres	Angelita Lind  Puerto Rico	2:04.69 CR	Nery McKeen  Cuba	2:07.13	Whelma Colebrooke  Bahamas	2:09.20
1500 metres	Sergia Martínez  Cuba	4:26.72	Angelita Lind  Puerto Rico	4:26.83	Eloína Kerr  Cuba	4:33.23
3000 metres	Sergia Martínez  Cuba	9:47.26 CR	Merernette Bean  Bermuda	9:48.65 NR	Debora Medina  Colombia	9:53.59
100 metres hurdles	Grisel Machado  Cuba	13.72	Elida Aveillé  Cuba	14.07	Marisela Peralta  Dominican Republic	14.09
400 metres hurdles	Mercedes Mesa  Cuba	57.86 CR	Sandra Farmer  Jamaica	58.76	Felicia Candelario  Dominican Republic	59.66
4 × 100 metres relay	Jamaica Lelieth Hodges Dorothy Scott Janet Burke Jackie Pusey	44.62 CR	Cuba Luisa Ferrer Grisel Machado Mercedes Mesa Grisel Delis	45.79	Bahamas Eldece Clarke-Lewis Shonel Ferguson Debbie Greene Mary Ann Higgs	45.85
4 × 400 metres relay	Cuba Beatriz Castillo Ana Fidelia Quirot Mercedes Álvarez Mercedes Mesa	3:37.90	Jamaica Jacqueline Pusey Cathy Rattray Norma Lee Murray Fredericka Wright	3:40.00	Dominican Republic Felicia Candelario Divina Estrella Iris Sanders Herminia García	3:49.62
High jump	Silvia Costa  Cuba	1.85 CR	Sharon Rose  Bahamas	1.78	Angela Carbonell  Cuba	1.75
Long jump	Shonel Ferguson  Bahamas	6.43 CR	Eloína Echevarría  Cuba	6.29	Madeline de Jesús  Puerto Rico	6.20
Shot put	María Elena Sarría  Cuba	18.28 CR	Rosa Fernández  Cuba	15.35	Laverne Eve  Bahamas	13.32
Discus throw	María Cristina Betancourt  Cuba	64.46 CR	Carmen Romero  Cuba	61.68	Laverne Eve  Bahamas	42.56
Javelin throw	María Beltrán  Cuba	59.06 CR	Mayra Vila  Cuba	56.80	Sonia Smith  Bermuda	46.84
Heptathlon	Elida Aveillé  Cuba	5312 CR	Marisela Peralta  Dominican Republic	5026	Victoria Despaigne  Cuba	4844

  *   Host nation (Dominican Republic)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Cuba (CUB)	22	18	10	50
2	Jamaica (JAM)	8	4	0	12
3	Mexico (MEX)	4	4	2	10
4	Bahamas (BAH)	2	2	6	10
5	Puerto Rico (PUR)	1	4	6	11
6	Colombia (COL)	1	1	6	8
7	Dominican Republic (DOM)*	1	1	5	7
8	Bermuda (BER)	0	2	1	3
9	Panama (PAN)	0	1	1	2
10	Barbados (BAR)	0	1	0	1
	Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)	0	1	0	1
12	Antigua and Barbuda (ATG)	0	0	1	1
	Guatemala (GUA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 entries)		39	39	39	117

• 1981 in athletics (track and field)

• Men Results – GBR Athletics
• Women Results – GBR Athletics