At the 1963 GANEFO, the athletics events were held in Jakarta, Indonesia in November. A total of 21 men's and 12 women's athletics events were contested at the competition. Given that the Soviet Union sent a lower standard of athletes to the games, China dominated the athletics competition. China won all but three of the women's events and won eleven gold medals in the men's section. The second most successful nation was North Korea, which won four gold medals, led by a triple gold medal performance by Sin Kim-dan. The next most successful nation was the United Arab Republic (combining Egypt and Syria), which swept the men's distance track events, and also won four gold medals.