BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 9 : SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : RICH CAREER HAS A LEAN FINISH

Evelyn Ashford’s amazing Olympic 100-meter career, which included appearances in four Games between 1976 and ’92 that produced one gold medal and one silver medal, came to a less-than-glorious conclusion Saturday.

In the semifinals at Montjuic Stadium, she failed to lean at the finish and was narrowly edged for fourth place and a berth in the final.

But if she was disappointed, she didn’t show it.

“This is my last Olympics,” said Ashford, 35, of Walnut. “I’m sad for that. But I’ve had a long career, a long career. I just wanted to make it to the Olympics. I think that’s been the highlight, making the team.

“There’s nothing like the Olympics. Walking into the opening ceremony in ‘76, there was nothing like it, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Just being here is so great.”

After advancing through the first two rounds Friday, she felt optimistic.

“I came to the ball to dance,” she said.

But then the music stopped.

“I knew in the middle of the race,” she said. “I’ve been hitting my gear at 60 meters, and today I didn’t hit it.”

Asked why she didn’t lean, an unusual mistake for a runner with her experience, she shrugged and said: “It just wasn’t a good race for me. If I ran it again, it might be different.”

She has one more chance, in the 400-meter relay.

“I’ve still got the relay,” she said. “I’m not finished. We’re going to win, no doubt about it.”

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.