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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION 169

 
2    WHEREAS, The executive board of the International Olympic
3Committee (IOC) reviewed 26 sports on its summer program and
4decided to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport, stunning
5the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as popular and
6steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves; and
 
7    WHEREAS, While wrestling will be included at the 2016
8Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it will not be included in the 2020
9Olympic Games; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The executive board of the IOC voted after
11reviewing an IOC program commission report that analyzed 39
12criteria, including TV ratings, ticket sales, global
13participation, 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
17detrimental impact on many teams around the world, including
18the United States, whose wrestling medals are only outnumbered
19by swimming and track and field; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Wrestling is also one of the most popular youth

 

 

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1sports in the United States, with nearly 275,000 competitors
2from 2010 to 2011; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Illinois has the second most high school wrestlers
4in any state in the nation, with 17,112 high school boys and
5girls wrestling in the 2011-2012 year; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation, USA
7Wrestling's state association in Illinois for wrestlers
8between the ages of 5-13, has the largest membership in the
9nation within USA Wrestling, with almost 19,000 members last
10year and a complete program of events and opportunities for
11wrestlers of all levels in the State; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Illinois is also active in college wrestling
13through 18 college programs, including the Division I programs
14at Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University,
15Southern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois;
16the Division II program at McKendree College; and the Division
17III programs at Augustana College, Elmhurst College, Knox
18College, North Central College, the University of Chicago, and
19Wheaton College, as well as the Junior College programs at
20Kennedy-King College, Lincoln College, Rend Lake College,
21Triton College, Waubonsee Community College, Wilbur Wright
22College, and William Rainey Harper College; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, when living in New Salem, was an
2accomplished wrestler and was once considered one of the best
3in the Midwest in the early 1830s; according to the National
4Wrestling Hall of Fame, Lincoln had only one recorded defeat in
512 years; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Wrestling is a diverse, popular, and historic
7sport, and it is fitting and proper that the IOC keep wrestling
8in the Olympic Games after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,
9Brazil; therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
11NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
12we request that the IOC revisit their decision to drop
13wrestling from the Olympic Games after the 2016 Games in Rio de
14Janeiro, Brazil, and urge them to keep it as an Olympic sport;
15and be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
17delivered to Richard Bender, Executive Director of USA
18Wrestling; James Considine, Illinois State Director of USA
19Wrestling; and the United States Olympic Committee.