SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : DEVERS IS CALLING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

Gwen Torrence said Wednesday that she will no longer address questions about the allegations she made last weekend that three of the eight women in the 100-meter final were drug users. But the winner of that race, Gail Devers of Van Nuys, believes that Torrence already has talked too much.

“I feel Gwen Torrence should . . . be held responsible for the accusations she made against the finalists in the women’s 100 meters,” Devers said in a statement released after she advanced through the first round of Wednesday’s 100-meter hurdles.

Later in the day, Devers qualified for a place in today’s semifinals.

“I also feel the women’s U.S. head coach and (The Athletics Congress), the U.S. Olympic Committee and, if necessary, the IAAF and the IOC should hold Gwen Torrence accountable for her accusations. This kind of slander and defamation of character is the behavior of losers, not winners.”

Devers is not sure whether Torrence was referring to her. The fourth-place finisher in the 100 meters from Decatur, Ga., initially said she did not think Devers uses banned, performance-enhancing drugs, but she since has been noncommittal on the issue.

“I will not defend myself against frivolous falsehoods and anonymous inquiry,” Devers said. “I have worked very hard to get where I am today. I resent any accusations that would remotely associate me with the use of performance-enhancing drugs. I won the Olympic gold medal fair and square, by beating the best in the world. “

She said that she would welcome “any and all” investigations.

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