HR0169enr 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0169 Enrolled LRB098 11395 GRL 43179 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION 169

WHEREAS, The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reviewed 26 sports on its summer program and decided to eliminate wrestling as an Olympic sport, stunning the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as popular and steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves; and

WHEREAS, While wrestling will be included at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it will not be included in the 2020 Olympic Games; and

WHEREAS, The executive board of the IOC voted after reviewing an IOC program commission report that analyzed 39 criteria, including TV ratings, ticket sales, global participation, and popularity; and

WHEREAS, According to IOC documents, wrestling ranked "low" in several of the technical criteria; and

WHEREAS, The decision to phase out wrestling will have a detrimental impact on many teams around the world, including the United States, whose wrestling medals are only outnumbered by swimming and track and field; and

WHEREAS, Wrestling is also one of the most popular youth sports in the United States, with nearly 275,000 competitors from 2010 to 2011; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has the second most high school wrestlers in any state in the nation, with 17,112 high school boys and girls wrestling in the 2011-2012 year; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation, USA Wrestling's state association in Illinois for wrestlers between the ages of 5-13, has the largest membership in the nation within USA Wrestling, with almost 19,000 members last year and a complete program of events and opportunities for wrestlers of all levels in the State; and

WHEREAS, Illinois is also active in college wrestling through 18 college programs, including the Division I programs at Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, Southern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois; the Division II program at McKendree College; and the Division III programs at Augustana College, Elmhurst College, Knox College, North Central College, the University of Chicago, and Wheaton College, as well as the Junior College programs at Kennedy-King College, Lincoln College, Rend Lake College, Triton College, Waubonsee Community College, Wilbur Wright College, and William Rainey Harper College; and

WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, when living in New Salem, was an accomplished wrestler and was once considered one of the best in the Midwest in the early 1830s; according to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Lincoln had only one recorded defeat in 12 years; and

WHEREAS, Wrestling is a diverse, popular, and historic sport, and it is fitting and proper that the IOC keep wrestling in the Olympic Games after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we request that the IOC revisit their decision to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games after the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and urge them to keep it as an Olympic sport; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to Richard Bender, Executive Director of USA Wrestling; James Considine, Illinois State Director of USA Wrestling; and the United States Olympic Committee.