Physique characteristics of Pan American Games lightweight rowers

Abstract

The emergence of lightweight rowing as an international sport has made the optimization of physique within the weight restrictions a matter of primary importance in selection and training of the participants. The occasion of the Xth Pan American Games provided opportunity to obtain comprehensive anthropometric data on 20 male and 13 female lightweight rower finalists including most of the medal winners. Anthropometric characteristics, somatotype, and proportionality profiles showed the male rowers to be similar in most aspects to a student control sample, with the exception of short sitting height and large transverse chest breadth. The females, on the other hand, appeared to be very different from the control sample, having a number of characteristics similar to those of Olympic rowers. The female lightweight rowers also uniquely demonstrated two distinct physique prototypes.