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But what troubled Mitchell more — she found it “appalling” — is that Wade’s speech Friday was disrupted. Someone shouted, “I want to speak in the name of my people,” and was then pummeled.
“Frankly, it was embarrassing that an African head of state was subjected to the chaotic situation,” wrote Mitchell, as if the matter came down just to Wade’s feelings. She faulted “the security personnel — including the Chicago Police Department — [who] should have anticipated trouble,” and she pressed on to the extravagant conclusion that the matter “doesn’t bode well for the city’s Olympic bid.”
The world’s full of athletes who have done nothing wrong who don’t get to go to the Olympics. Pistorius runs on carbon-fiber blades, which the International Association of Athletics Federations thinks might give him a competitive advantage — greater stride, less wind resistance, no aching leg muscles. The IAAF said Pistorius couldn’t compete but was overruled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “Doesn’t the IAAF have some drug users to go after?” Slezak wondered. “Track and field should be celebrating Pistorius, not trying to ban him from competition.”
