## 4 Discussion  
The purpose of this study was to examine the anthropometric and physiological profiles and motor performance of Hungarian female rowing athletes in different age groups, competing at different levels, and with different lengths of time as licensed rowers. The literature suggests that the anthropometry of world-class rowers appears to have altered during the past 30 years toward a more compact, robust physique, which is especially noticeable amongst female competitors [5,33]. Similarly, this study found significant differences between the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of Hungarian female rowers in different age groups, as older (>17 years) Hungarian female rowers were significantly heavier, possessed larger BSA and had significantly higher BFP, BMI, arm span, and thigh skinfold values than their younger peers (15-16 years). The results of this study are supported by previous research conducted by [PERSON] et al. [22], which found that the body mass of junior female rowers (60.7 kg) was slightly above the upper limit for lightweight female rowers (59.0 kg). Changes in the fat mass and lean body mass of women gradually take place due to lipase activity induced by estrogen, resulting in fat accumulation mainly around women's hips and thighs [34]. This study found that the body mass of junior female rowers was significantly lower than that of older juniors and seniors, and the BMI of the junior female rowers (closer to the lower limit of the standard) was significantly lower than the BMI of the seniors (closer to the upper limit of the standard). This might suggest that the process of changes in the distribution of fat mass and lean body mass had not yet been fully \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Parameter**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Ranking Category**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Difference**} \\ \cline{2-2} \cline{4-7}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**International (N = 13)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Club (N = 13)**} & & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**[PERSON]’s \(d\)**} \\ \cline{2-7}  & **Mean** & **SD** & **Mean** & **SD** & \(\mathbf{t}\) & \(\mathbf{p}\) & \\ \hline
**Body height (cm)** & 172.89 & 6.94 & 167.53 & 5.55 & 2.17 & 0.040 & 0.85 \\
**Body mass (kg)** & 69.34 & 7.26 & 62.56 & 7.12 & 2.40 & 0.024 & 0.94 \\
**Arm span (cm)** & 176.59 & 6.74 & 168.00 & 6.23 & 3.38 & 0.002 & 0.86 \\
**Lower limb length (cm)** & 101.22 & 5.51 & 95.47 & 4.88 & 2.82 & 0.010 & 0.93 \\
**BSA (m\({}^{2}\))** & 1.67 & 0.23 & 1.46 & 0.19 & 2.56 & 0.017 & 0.94 \\
**Abdomen skinfold (mm)** & 13.39 & 2.96 & 16.92 & 4.07 & \(-\)2.53 & 0.018 & 1.00 \\
**Watt 2000m (W)** & 223.54 & 23.02 & 200.36 & 28.78 & 2.19 & 0.039 & 0.89 \\
**Time 2000m (min)** & 7.76 & 0.28 & 8.06 & 0.38 & \(-\)2.25 & 0.035 & 0.89 \\
**ErVO\({}_{\text{2 max}}\) (L/min)** & 4.06 & 0.41 & 3.61 & 0.57 & 2.25 & 0.034 & 0.91 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Comparison of arithmetic means of older junior female rowers anthropometric, physiological, and motoric parameters depending on the ranking categories. completed in the Hungarian junior female rowers. This supposition may be supported by the lack of significant differences in BFP between the study participants in different age categories. However, when considering these results, it must be noted that the BMI does not give reliable information about the body composition of sport athletes and does not allow an important distinction to be made between the distribution of fat and muscle tissue in the lower and upper half of the body [35; 36]. In terms of a body height, there were no significant differences between the age groups. The lack of significant differences might be due to the fact that the bones of women reach their final length after 2-4 years of puberty [37]. The results of the physiological tests showed that the relative and absolute values of Er VO\({}_{\text{2 max}}\) were significantly higher between seniors and older juniors vs. young juniors, but they did not differ significantly between the older juniors and seniors.