## 4 Discussion  
Olympic sailing is a multifaceted sport for which body size and mass are criteria for selecting an Olympic sailing class and are undoubtedly performance-related factors. However, scientific literature on anthropometrical data, body composition, and the somatotype of elite sailors is scarce. In this context, this study of World Class and International Elite level (Trier 5 & 4) ILCA 7 sailors produced two major findings: (a) for the first time, the anthropometric profile, body composition, and somatotype of 97 elite ILCA 7 class sailors have been determined, and (b) significant differences between more, medium, and less-successful elite ILCA 7 sailors have been found in terms of their anthropometric parameters, body composition, and somatotype. ILCA 7 Sailors Anthropometric Parameters and Body Composition Comparison to Previous ILCA 7 Findings  
Many studies have reported at least some of the anthropometric parameters of ILCA 7 sailors [19; 20; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33]. The mean values for the stature of ILCA 7 sailors are within \(\pm 1\) cm of the measurements for our international elite sample. This is particularly interesting because the previous studies are not homogeneous in terms of the age and level of sailing performance of ILCA 7 sailors. Almost all identical mean values for _body mass_ (81.18-81.88 kg) were found in scientific literature that analyzed sailors who participated in the Olympic Games [28; 29; 31; 32]. On the other hand, a range of 76.26-78.60 kg in _body mass_ values was found in studies that analyzed national elite-level sailors [19; 20; 28; 30]. Similar values  
Figure 1: Somatochart. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c} \hline \hline
**Somatotype Categories** & **Frequency** & **Ratio (\%)** \\ \hline Central & 7 & 7.22 \\ Mesomorphic endomorph & 3 & 3.09 \\ Mesomorph-endomorph & 10 & 10.31 \\ Endomorphic mesomorph & 40 & 41.24 \\ Balanced mesomorph & 23 & 23.71 \\ Ectomorphic mesomorph & 10 & 10.31 \\ Mesomorph-ectomorph & 3 & 3.09 \\ Ectomorphic endomorph & 1 & 1.03 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Frequency and ratio of somatotype categories of ILCA 7 sailors (N = 97). for _body mass index_, like those in this research, are reported in the literature [29; 31], but also somewhat lower values in the range of _body mass index_ 23.01-23.70 kg/m\({}^{2}\) have been reported [20; 21; 28]. As far as the authors are aware, only two scientific papers have analyzed the anthropometric profile of ILCA 7 sailors more extensively, but on a relatively small sample of national-level sailors (N = 7 and 9) [19; 20]. Croatian ILCA 7 sailors had similar values for _stature_; smaller values for _body mass_, _sitting height_, _body mass index_, _upper arm girth flexed_, _and tensed_, and _calf girth_; but higher values for _biepicondilar humerus width_ and _biepicondilar femur width_[20]. Spanish ILCA 7 sailors showed similar values for _body mass_ and _upper arm girth flexed and tensed_, smaller values for _calf girth_, and higher values for _stature_, _biepicondilar humerus width_, and _biepicondilar femur width_. Although body composition results obtained using different methods are difficult to compare, they will be presented in this paper informatively. Our study determined a fat range of 10.99 \(\pm\) 3.57% and a muscle mass of 68.43 \(\pm\) 3.57 kg (BIA). [PERSON] et al. (2023) reported for six elite sailors an average muscle mass of 68.07 kg and a fat range of 14% [29]. In Croatian ILCA 7 sailors, fat ranges of 10.19% (Heath-Carter method) and 15.16% (Durnin-Wormesley method) were reported, depending on the method used [20], and Spanish ILCA 7 sailors showed a fat range of 13.9% (Heath-Carter method) [19]. ILCA 7 sailors Anthropometric Parameters and Body Composition Comparison to Other Sailing Class Saliors' Parameters  
As is the case for the ILCA 7 class, detailed anthropometric studies on sailors in any Olympic or other sailing classes are lacking. ILCA 6 female sailors.