anthropometric and physical fitness comparisons between australian and qatari male sport school athletes

bbackground: the increasing focus on international sporting success has led to many countries introducing sport schools and academies. limited empirical evidence exists that directly compares student-athletes from different continents. this study investigated whether male australian and qatari student-athletes differ in anthropometry, physical fitness and biological maturity. methods: 150 male student-athletes (72 qatari, 78 australian; age = 11.8 - 18.6 y) completed a fitness testing session involving anthropometric (standing height, sitting height, leg length, body mass, peak height velocity (phv) measures) and physical capacity (40 m sprint, countermovement jump (cmj), predicted maximal oxygen uptake (vo2 max) tests. differences were assessed using a one-way multivariate analysis of variance (manova), effect size (cohen’s d) and regression coefficients. results: the australian student-athletes possessed a greater standing height and body mass (p < 0.01) at their age at phv (aphv) and had an increased rate of leg length development (p < 0.05) in contrast to the sitting height of the qataris (p < 0.01). the qatari student-athletes had significantly (p < 0.01) faster 40 m sprint times (mean ± sd: 5.88 ± 0.53 vs 6.19 ± 0.44 s) and greater cmj heights (36.9 ± 7.2 vs 34.0 ± 6.0 cm) than their australian counterparts. although not statistically different, the qatari student-athletes also matured earlier (aphv: d = 0.35) and had greater aerobic power results (predicted vo2 max: d = 0.22). conclusions: despite lower stature and body mass values, qatari student-athletes exhibited physical fitness ascendancy over their australian counterparts.