Full Text of HR0169 98th General Assembly
HR0169enr 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION 169
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The executive board of the International Olympic | 3 | | Committee (IOC) reviewed 26 sports on its
summer program and | 4 | | decided to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport, stunning | 5 | | the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as
popular and | 6 | | steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, While wrestling will be included at the 2016 | 8 | | Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it will not be included
in the 2020 | 9 | | Olympic Games; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The executive board of the IOC voted after | 11 | | reviewing an IOC program commission report that
analyzed 39 | 12 | | criteria, including TV ratings, ticket sales, global | 13 | | participation, and popularity; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, According to IOC documents, wrestling ranked | 15 | | "low" in several of the technical criteria; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The decision to phase out wrestling will have a | 17 | | detrimental impact on many teams
around the world, including | 18 | | the United States, whose wrestling medals are only outnumbered | 19 | | by
swimming and track and field; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Wrestling is also one of the most popular youth |
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| 1 | | sports in the United States, with nearly
275,000 competitors | 2 | | from 2010 to 2011; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Illinois has the second most high school wrestlers | 4 | | in any state in the nation, with 17,112 high school boys and | 5 | | girls wrestling in the 2011-2012 year; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation, USA | 7 | | Wrestling's state association in Illinois for wrestlers | 8 | | between the ages of 5-13, has the largest membership in the | 9 | | nation within USA Wrestling, with almost 19,000 members last | 10 | | year and a complete program of events and opportunities for | 11 | | wrestlers of all levels in the State; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Illinois is also active in college wrestling | 13 | | through 18 college programs, including the Division I programs | 14 | | at Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, | 15 | | Southern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois; | 16 | | the Division II program at McKendree College; and the Division | 17 | | III programs at Augustana College, Elmhurst College, Knox | 18 | | College, North Central College, the University of Chicago, and | 19 | | Wheaton College, as well as the Junior College programs at | 20 | | Kennedy-King College, Lincoln College, Rend Lake College, | 21 | | Triton College, Waubonsee Community College, Wilbur Wright | 22 | | College, and William Rainey Harper College; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, when living in New Salem, was an | 2 | | accomplished wrestler and was once considered one of the best | 3 | | in the Midwest in the early 1830s; according to the National | 4 | | Wrestling Hall of Fame, Lincoln had only one recorded defeat in | 5 | | 12 years; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Wrestling is a diverse, popular, and historic | 7 | | sport, and it is fitting and proper that the IOC keep
wrestling | 8 | | in the Olympic Games after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, | 9 | | Brazil; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 11 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 12 | | we request that the IOC revisit their decision to drop | 13 | | wrestling from the Olympic Games after the 2016
Games in Rio de | 14 | | Janeiro, Brazil, and urge them to keep it as an Olympic sport; | 15 | | and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 17 | | delivered to Richard Bender, Executive Director of
USA | 18 | | Wrestling; James Considine, Illinois State Director of USA | 19 | | Wrestling; and the United States Olympic
Committee.
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