Body composition of the Serbian national track and field team

Abstract

Introduction. The performance in athletics depends on various anthropometric factors as well as on the training process. The body fat percentage and running speed during the training sessions are the most important factors for running success. Material and Methods. The study included 61 athletes, members of the Serbian senior national track and field team. Nine morphological characteristics were measured and the sum of skinfolds, body density, body fat percentage and body mass index were calculated. Results. A one-way ANOVA showed a statistical significance between the height (F=2.97; p=.03), weight (F=7.00; p=.00), sum of skinfolds (F=4.30; p=.01), body density (F=4.09; p=.01), percentage of body fat (F= 4.02; p=.01), body mass index (F= 3.86; p=.01), and the athletic disciplines. The female athletes showed a statistically significant difference between height (F=3.54; p=.03), weight (F=3.70; p=.03) and body mass index (F=5.40; p=.01) related to disciplines. Of all the disciplines, the percentage of body fat was the highest in male throwers (10.10±3.61) and female sprinters (15.82±3.06). Conclusion. The male and female athletes of the Serbian national track and field team showed higher sums of skinfolds compared to top athletes and members of more successful national teams. However, it is possible to increase the loss of body fat and indirectly improve the athletic performance with adequate education of coaches and athletes, and application of other, more precise body composition measurement methods.