COMPARISON OF THE BODY COMPOSITION AND SOMATOTYPE OF TURKISH AND FOREIGN COUNTRY NATIONAL TEAM TAEKWONDO ATHLETES

The objective of this study is the determination and comparison of the body composition and somatotypes of the elite level Turkish and foreign taekwondo athletes. Totally 93 taekwondo athletes, being 45 Turkish (27 male, 18 female) and 48 foreign (35 male, 13 female) in the age range of 17-27, taking part in the national teams of their countries participated in the study. Sportive ages, heights, body weights, body mass index, body fat percentages, and somatotype of taekwondo players were determined. The difference between the groups was analyzed by t test in independent groups. The analyses were conducted in the SPSS 16.0 package program and 0,05 was accepted as a significance level. No significant difference was determined between Turkish and foreign athletes in all the measured variables in the male and female athletes (p>0.05). It was determined in the study that Turkish male athletes were mesomorph-ectomorph and that of foreign male athletes were mesomorphic ectomorph, and that of Turkish and foreign female athletes were central. As a result, we can say that the Turkish and foreign national team taekwondo players have similar body composition and somatotype. Article visualizations