Distribución de la adiposidad en nadadores según categorías de pubertad

physical growth is a continuous that begins prenatally and continues as postnatal life progress. as such, the distribution of fat in the body also changes. the aim of this paper was to analyze body fat distribution of 178 venezuelan swimmers previously classified by sexual development traits (prepuberty, initial puberty and advanced puberty). principal components analysis using logaritms of linear regression of eight skinfolds was used to evaluate fatness and fat patterning. three principal components emerged for prepuber and advanced male swimmers, and two components for initial puberts. a first component (pc1) at the prepuberty state was positively related to all skinfolds sites; represents the level of fatness, while the other two states of maturation identifies trunk-extremity pattern. in the female group two components emerged at the prepuber and three at initial and advanced puberts, this latter stage of maturity accounted for the greatest percentage of variance (81.5%). in all, pc1 indicates adiposity while (pc2) showed a trunk-oriented pattern of distribution. grouping by stage of secondary sex characteristics was consistent since dispersion as indicated for chronological age did not depicted a considerable variation. data suggest that swimmers follow the same tendency of a trunk-oriented pattern of distribution observed in venezuelan non-atheltic population. need to take into account classification of athletes by sexual development traits is highlighted, as a clue to detect talent and performance of children and youths.