BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : Torrence Says 3 of 8 Finalists Used Drugs

After her fourth-place finish in the Olympic 100 meters Saturday, U.S. sprinter Gwen Torrence, the prerace favorite from Decatur, Ga., accused three of the eight finalists of using banned, performance-enhancing drugs.

“I don’t think some of the people ahead of me were clean,” she said. “I won’t mention any names. Some were ahead of me, and some were behind me.”

She said she was not referring to gold medalist Gail Devers of Los Angeles, adding: “Oh yeah, I think she was clean. I saw her train. I knew she’d be very sharp.”

She also absolved silver medalist Juliet Cuthbert of Jamaica.

But when the allegations were repeated to the three medalists, also including third-place Irina Privalova of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in a postrace news conference, Privalova didn’t seem to understand, even in translation.