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1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 169
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2 | AMENDMENT NO. ___. Amend House Resolution 169, AS AMENDED, | ||||||
3 | by replacing everything after the heading with the following:
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4 | "WHEREAS, The executive board of the International Olympic | ||||||
5 | Committee (IOC) reviewed 26 sports on its
summer program and | ||||||
6 | decided to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport, stunning | ||||||
7 | the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as
popular and | ||||||
8 | steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves; and
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9 | WHEREAS, While wrestling will be included at the 2016 | ||||||
10 | Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it will not be included
in the 2020 | ||||||
11 | Olympic Games; and
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12 | WHEREAS, The executive board of the IOC voted after | ||||||
13 | reviewing an IOC program commission report that
analyzed 39 | ||||||
14 | criteria, including TV ratings, ticket sales, global | ||||||
15 | participation, and popularity; and
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1 | WHEREAS, According to IOC documents, wrestling ranked | ||||||
2 | "low" in several of the technical criteria; and
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3 | WHEREAS, The decision to phase out wrestling will have a | ||||||
4 | detrimental impact on many teams
around the world, including | ||||||
5 | the United States, whose wrestling medals are only outnumbered | ||||||
6 | by
swimming and track and field; and | ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, Wrestling is also one of the most popular youth | ||||||
8 | sports in the United States, with nearly
275,000 competitors | ||||||
9 | from 2010 to 2011; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Illinois has the second most high school wrestlers | ||||||
11 | in any state in the nation, with 17,112 high school boys and | ||||||
12 | girls wrestling in the 2011-2012 year; and | ||||||
13 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation, USA | ||||||
14 | Wrestling's state association in Illinois for wrestlers | ||||||
15 | between the ages of 5-13, has the largest membership in the | ||||||
16 | nation within USA Wrestling, with almost 19,000 members last | ||||||
17 | year and a complete program of events and opportunities for | ||||||
18 | wrestlers of all levels in the State; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, Illinois is also active in college wrestling | ||||||
20 | through 18 college programs, including the Division I programs |
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1 | at Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, | ||||||
2 | Southern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois; | ||||||
3 | the Division II program at McKendree College; and the Division | ||||||
4 | III programs at Augustana College, Elmhurst College, Knox | ||||||
5 | College, North Central College, the University of Chicago, and | ||||||
6 | Wheaton College, as well as the Junior College programs at | ||||||
7 | Kennedy-King College, Lincoln College, Rend Lake College, | ||||||
8 | Triton College, Waubonsee Community College, Wilbur Wright | ||||||
9 | College, and William Rainey Harper College; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, when living in New Salem, was an | ||||||
11 | accomplished wrestler and was once considered one of the best | ||||||
12 | in the Midwest in the early 1830s; according to the National | ||||||
13 | Wrestling Hall of Fame, Lincoln had only one recorded defeat in | ||||||
14 | 12 years; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, Wrestling is a diverse, popular, and historic | ||||||
16 | sport, and it is fitting and proper that the IOC keep
wrestling | ||||||
17 | in the Olympic Games after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, | ||||||
18 | Brazil; therefore, be it
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19 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
20 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
21 | we request that the IOC revisit their decision to drop | ||||||
22 | wrestling from the Olympic Games after the 2016
Games in Rio de | ||||||
23 | Janeiro, Brazil, and urge them to keep it as an Olympic sport; |
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1 | and be it further
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2 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
3 | delivered to Richard Bender, Executive Director of
USA | ||||||
4 | Wrestling; James Considine, Illinois State Director of USA | ||||||
5 | Wrestling; and the United States Olympic
Committee.". |