artistic gymnastics, youth, female, morphology

The aim of the study is to analyse the somatic parameters of artistic gymnasts in the pupilcompetition category and to compare them with the values of the general population in thecorresponding age group. The study included 16 female gymnasts in the pupil category and 652girls in the same age group, which formed the control group. Body height was measured using astadiometer InBody BSM 370, body mass and body composition by BIA analyser InBody 770(Biospace, South Korea). The monitored values of each gymnast we compared with the meanvalues of the control group at the corresponding age separately, using the normalisation index(Ni). The results of the study show that the gymnasts in the youngest competition categoryalready differ in basic anthropometric parameters from the general population. Since the age ofnine, the gymnasts have a lower body height (except for one person) and lower body weightthan the girls in the general population. The body height and body mass values are belowaverage or highly below average in nine gymnasts (56.3%). The high volume of specificphysical activity of the gymnasts, included in their training, affects their body compositionparameters. The gymnasts have lower body fat (%) and visceral fat (cm2), their values arebelow average to highly below average, and higher skeletal muscle mass (%), with values above average or highly above average.