Body build of elite taekwondo athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the somatotype of elite junior taekwondo athletes. Subjects (9 boys, 15.44 ± 1.21 years, 165.94 ± 12.82 cm, 53.82 ± 13.41 kg, and 9 girls, 15.05 ± 1.30 years, 160.82 ± 10.46 cm, 50.58 ± 10.41 kg) were members of the US national junior taekwondo team. The Heath-Carter somatotype method was used to assess body build of the athletes. To determine the difference between boys and girls in somatotype, a 1-way Anova was used. The global somatotype analysis revealed no difference in somatotype attitudinal mean between boys and girls (p = 0.411, eta² = 0.043) or SAD (p = 0.215, eta² = 0.094). There was a small difference in endomorphy between boys and girls (p = 0.053, eta² = 0.214). Physique may be used as one of the selection criteria to detect and develop talent in taekwondo.