2020 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 37
BY SENATORS CORTEZ, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, BARROW, BERNARD,
BOUDREAUX, BOUIE, CARTER, CATHEY, CLOUD, CONNICK,
FESI, FIELDS, FOIL, HARRIS, HENRY, HENSGENS, HEWITT,
JACKSON, JOHNS, LAMBERT, LUNEAU, MCMATH, MILLIGAN,
FRED MILLS, ROBERT MILLS, MIZELL, MORRIS, PEACOCK,
PETERSON, POPE, PRICE, REESE, SMITH, TALBOT, TARVER,
WARD, WHITE AND WOMACK
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To commend Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, a former member of the track and field team at
Louisiana State University (LSU), on breaking the world indoor record in the pole
vault in successive international track and field competitions.
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis, a Lafayette, Louisiana, native and former LSU
athlete, represents his mother's native country of Sweden in international competition since
he maintains dual citizenship, and he is the reigning European champion; and
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis broke the world indoor record in the pole vault, which
had stood since 2014, with a vault of 20.14 feet (6.17 meters) on February 8, 2020, at the
World Athletics Indoor Tour in Torun', Poland; and
WHEREAS, merely one week later, at the Indoor Grand Prix meet in Glasgow,
Scotland, on February 15, 2020, Mondo Duplantis vaulted beyond the world record height
again to clear 20.28 feet (6.18 meters) breaking his own record by a centimeter; and
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis, referred to in The New York Times as "the Tiger
Woods of pole vaulting", is clearly in excellent form to compete for a gold medal at the 2020
Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, later this year; and
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis had set as a goal being the world record holder in the
pole vault going into the Olympic games this summer, and he accomplished that by setting
these consecutive world record heights; and
WHEREAS, on his way to this world record, Mondo Duplantis garnered several titles
and records, including being named Track & Field High School Boys Athlete of the Year
in both 2017 and 2018, before moving on to LSU; and
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis, who set his first age group world best at age seven
and was a stellar athlete at LSU, appears to have a brilliant career ahead of him,
internationally; and
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WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis broke both records at indoor meets and told the
British Broadcasting Company (BBC), "I'm excited for the outdoor season"; and
WHEREAS, with back-to-back record-setting victories, Mondo Duplantis appears
poised to rise to the pinnacle of his sport of pole vaulting with an Olympic gold medal to
accompany his world records and to take his LSU and Louisiana fans along with him in that
quest for continued world pole vault dominance; and
WHEREAS, as the youngest child of LSU track and field stars, Greg and Helena
Hudlund Duplantis, a pole vaulter and a heptathlete and volleyball player, respectively, who
met while attending LSU, Mondo was destined to have both an interest in sports and some
innate athletic ability; and
WHEREAS, his parents say that Mondo Duplantis first tried pole vaulting as a
three-year-old at home, set his first age group world best at seven, and as of July 2015, he
held the world best height in all age groups from age seven to age twelve; and
WHEREAS, Mondo is coached by his father and the family has a pole vaulting pit
in the back yard of their home in Lafayette; and
WHEREAS, one could say that athletic competition is the family "business", with
his older brothers, Andreas, a pole vaulter, and Antoine, a baseball player (who became LSU
baseball's all-time hits leader last season) who attended LSU on athletic scholarships and
Antoine is currently signed with the New York Mets of Major League Baseball; and
WHEREAS, in competition in 2019, Mondo Duplantis, a seven-time Louisiana pole
vault champion, became the World Silver Medalist, the National Collegiate Athletic
Association Indoor Champion (NCAA), and the record holder at 19 feet 5 inches, the
Southeastern Conference (SEC) Field Athlete of the Year, both indoor and outdoor, the SEC
Indoor Freshman Athlete of the Year, and in 2018 he was the European Champion and the
Under-Twenty World Champion, and is a widely-recognized prodigious talent in
international pole vault competition; and
WHEREAS, Mondo Duplantis is the collegiate indoor and outdoor record holder, he
holds two of the top three jumps in outdoor collegiate pole vault history, and four of the top
marks in collegiate history indoors, achieving a remarkably consistent record of excellence;
and
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WHEREAS, these are but a few of the countless honors that Mondo Duplantis has
garnered in his still-young career, but his lengthy competitive history indicates that he will
be ready to compete for what he sees as the ultimate prize, an Olympic Gold Medal this
summer; and
WHEREAS, through his long and extremely successful career as a pole vaulter,
Mondo Duplantis, 2019 Southeastern Conference Male Rookie of the Year in Track & Field,
is focused on his athletic career, and is also a pleasant and personable young man, a world
champion, and likely to continue his athletic success on the international level for several
years to come.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
commend Armand "Mondo" Duplantis on breaking the world indoor record in the pole vault
in successive international track and field competitions.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Armand Duplantis.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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