24 Section APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY Section APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPATIAL POSITION OF THE TORSO, PELVIS AND FOOT IN THE MALE ELITE ATHLETES OF DIFFERENT SPORTS Abramova Tamara1 , Nikitina Tatjana1 , Kochetkova Natalja1 , Giljarova Olga1,2 1Federal Scientifi c Centre of Physical Culture and Sport, Moscow, Russia 2 Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia Characteristics of the musculoskeletal system in 231 elite male athletes from 11 Olympic sports, age of 19–36 were investigated. <...> The purpose of research is to study type-specifi c traits of the spatial position of torso, pelvis and foot in elite athletes men specializing in different kinds of sport with the use of modern quantitative methods. <...> The methods included computer optical topography (1994, Novosibirsk). <...> Disorders of orientation and shape of the body sagittal, front and horizontal planes, the frequency of local deviations in posture from the norm were determined. <...> Characteristics of the position and arch of the foot were determined by a computer complex “Diasled-Scan”. <...> The type-specifi c risks of incorrect posture and foot related to sports specialization were identifi ed. It was shown that the deviation of the spatial orientation and shape of the body, the position of the foot setting were correlated under the intense muscular activity; they have an infl uence on the increase of the evolutionarily formed functional asymmetry in humans, aggravated by strenuous physical activity. <...> Main motor stereotype, in a long-accented training process, forms a specifi c muscle profi le with the imbalance of the paired torso muscle groups, and the agonists-antagonists muscles of the lower limbs and trunk. <...> Most general and essential posture indicators in the total subpopulation of athletes are the round or round-shouldered back, a left-side curvature of the spine in chest department and a right-hand twisting of a trunk towards pelvis. <...> Common positions of violations are supplemented with the type-specifi c changes, particularly in sports, both “symmetric”, and “asymmetric” in terms of biomechanics of the competitive exercise: archery, cross-country skiing, biathlon, curling. <...> Positional settings stop athletes characterized mainly by valgus-varus of the left-right asymmetry from a greater support on the left foot that is a direct projection of the left-hand shift of the spinal processes with right-to-torso twisting. <...> Key words: musculoskeletal system, posture, foot <...>