2002 South American Junior Championships in Athletics

The 34th South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held at the Estádio Olímpico do Pará  in Belém, Brazil from August 1–3, 2002 in conjunction with the 7th South American (ODESUR) Games. Athletes from the Netherlands Antilles competed solely for the South American Games, and were considered as guests for the South American Junior Championships.

Medal summary
Medal winners are published for men and women Complete results can be found on the "World Junior Athletics History" website.

Doping
Eliane Pereira from Brazil was tested positive for Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. Consequently, she lost her gold medal in 1,500 m (in 4:33.19) and her silver medal in 3,000 m (in 9:52.42), and was banned for two years.

Two further cases with enhanced Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio were discovered (no medalists involved).

Final scoring per countries
The winners in point scoring per country were published.

{{legend|#ccccff|The host country is highlighted in lavender blue|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}

Participation (unofficial)
Detailed result lists can be found on the "World Junior Athletics History" website. An unofficial count yields the number of about 194 athletes (plus an unknown number of guest athletes from the Netherlands Antilles) from about 10 countries:

Guest Nation:
 * 🇦🇷 argentina (22)
 * 🇧🇴 bolivia (7)
 * 🇧🇷 brazil (69)
 * 🇨🇱 chile (29)
 * 🇪🇨 ecuador (19)
 * 🇬🇾 guyana (4)
 * 🇵🇾 paraguay (3)
 * 🇵🇪 Perú (8)
 * 🇺🇾 uruguay (3)
 * 🇻🇪 venezuela (30)
 * undefined (unknown)