2014 -- H 7134

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2014

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING MARISSA CASTELLI AND HER SKATING PARTNER, SIMON

SHNAPIR, FOR QUALIFYING FOR THE UNITED STATES WINTER OLYMPICS PAIRS

FIGURE SKATING TEAM AND REPRESENTING THE UNITED STATES AT THE 2014

WINTER OLYMPICS IN SOCHI, RUSSIA

     Introduced By: Representatives Ucci, Winfield, Costantino, Mattiello, and Chippendale

     Date Introduced: January 16, 2014

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, Marissa Castelli, born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1990, a graduate of

Cranston West High School where she was an All-State Lacrosse player, received the joyous

news on Sunday morning, January 12, 2014, that she and her skating partner, Simon Shnapir, had

qualified to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in the pairs

figure skating competition; and

     WHEREAS, Marissa Castelli and her skating partner Simon Shnapir, are the two-time

defending United States Pairs Figure Skating Champions, winning Gold Medals at the 2013

Championship in Omaha, Nebraska and at the 2014 Championship in Boston, Massachusetts.

After their breakthrough win in 2013, Marissa and Simon proved they were a force to be

reckoned with in pairs skating when they repeated as champions in 2014. Their performance in

the short program, the best of their careers, staked them out to a commanding lead, a lead they

would not relinquish; and

     WHEREAS, Marissa and Simon have also performed well in prior international

competitions. They won Bronze Medals at both the 2009 World Junior Figure Skating

Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the 2013 Four Continent Figure Skating Championships in

Osaka, Japan. At the latter championships they also helped the United States Figure Skating

Team take the Team Gold Medal Championship; and

     WHEREAS, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir have been skating partners since June

of 2006 and their more than seven years of hard training, diligent practicing, endless hours on the

ice, and more hours brainstorming and planning their programs, has all paid off for them. Marissa

Castelli will be representing her country, the City of Cranston, the State of Rhode Island, and the

Skating Club of Boston at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and her skating partner Simon Shnapir will

be returning to his birth country at the Winter Olympics, as he was born in Moscow and lived

there for over a year before moving to Sudbury, Massachusetts; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby congratulates Marissa Castelli and her skating partner Simon

Shnapir for qualifying for the United States Winter Olympics Pairs Figure Skating Team and

representing the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir.

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