On the importance of the Estonian constitutional typing system for sports anthropology

Abstract

In sports anthropology, two main international schools of constitutional typing are used: on the one hand the Anglo-American tradition of somato typing, but in the German-speaking world, on the other hand, the checkerboardtype constitution type system (Conrad) has dominated. A unique innovative approach to determining the individual constitutional type was achieved by Helje Kaarma: the Estonian constitutional typing system, con sisting of the 5 height-weight class system (small, medium, large, pyknomorphic and leptomorphic). In a series of follow-up studies, Kaarma and her daughter R. Stamm succeeded in establishing this system in sports anthropology. Furthermore, Papers on Anthropology is an important scientific platform for international sports anthropological research.