ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: Associated Press
ASIDE FROM WINNING and tending to her family, nothing seems to concern this top sprinter as the Olympic Games approach.
Here she is, with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cash in on her immense talent, the hometown girl winning the gold medal at the Olympics, yet Gwen Torrence couldn't care less about coming across like Mary Lou Retton for the millions who'll be watching.
She's a runner, excelling at a solitary profession that seems to suit her personality just fine. She's always lived life on her own terms, the consequences be damned.
``I know Gwen, and I know the kind of person Gwen is,'' she said, as if slipping out of her skin to take a look at the person she sees. ``I have to stay true to myself. I know me, and I love me.''
As a little girl, growing up with two brothers and two sisters in a housing project in the Atlanta suburbs, she was taught to speak her mind.
``Gwen is outspoken like everyone in our family,'' said her oldest brother, Charles Torrence. ``It's just something she inherited, probably from our father. Most of our family is like that. If you've got something to say and you're pretty sure you're right, you speak out.''
Speaking out around your family is one thing. Speaking out for the whole world to hear is another. Of course, Gwen Torrence doesn't see it that way.
``These track people, they don't want any standards. They just want to look the other way,'' her brother said. ``But Gwen couldn't look the other way. She was the one putting in the blood, sweat and tears. When she sees girls cheating, it upsets her.''
In 1992, Torrence was upset about finishing fourth in the 100 at the Barcelona Olympics, an event she was favored to win. Afterwards, the outspokenness that runs in her family came out in a blurt; she accused two of the three medalists of being ``dirty,'' an unmistakable reference to performance-enhancing drugs.
Four years have passed since that comment, but time has done little to soften Torrence's image. The world's greatest female sprinter, who could win as many as four gold medals at the Atlanta Games, is still known as a sore loser.
But for Torrence, the only thing that matters is when the starter's gun fires and she bolts from the blocks, intent on beating everyone else to the tape at the other end. If she doesn't have the kind of image that lends itself to being on a Wheaties box, well, so be it.
``That's not what Gwen Torrence is all about,'' her agent, Brad Hunt, said. ``If the state of Olympic sports was such that winning all the gold medals would still not allow you to be on a cereal box, she wouldn't work 1 percent less toward her goals.''
Besides, what's so bad about being known as a sore loser?
``From a coaching standpoint, I'd rather have that,'' said Lewis Gainey, her track coach at the University of Georgia. ``I'd rather have someone who is upset over a loss than someone who is smiling after a loss.
``She definitely did not like to get beat. She wanted to be the best.''
Today, Torrence wants to stay the best. A heavy favorite to win gold in both the 100 and the 200, she could become only the second woman in Olympic track and field history to win four, including the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.
Because she started sprinting relatively late in life, she just appears to be approaching her prime at an age when most sprinters are on their way down.
``I'm a little different from a lot of the other athletes,'' she said. ``I read Track and Field News. I watch the NCAA meets, I watch the high school meets. I want to know what's up and coming, and I like to be aware of my surroundings because I hope to be around for four more years.''
Torrence was shy as a child, her brother remembers, but you could see the competitive fire in her eyes.
``My mother has always said she saw something special in her,'' Charles Torrence said.
And, oh, how she loved to run. Little Gwen was always chasing somebody around the neighborhood. Still, she didn't get serious about competitive running until she was a junior in high school. She loved to dress up - Torrence was voted the best dressed at Columbia High - and planned to be a hair stylist.
``One of the things she enjoyed doing the most was her hair or doing someone else's hair,'' her brother said. ``Maybe she'll get her a shop someday.''
Work was never a problem for Torrence. To this day, she is perhaps the hardest-working athlete in track and field. In the fall, her day begins at 5 a.m. with a distance run, followed by a session on the track in the afternoon and weight training at night.
Her relationship with her competitors is another matter. She has had well-publicized feuds with Jamaica's Juliet Cuthbert, one of the three women who beat Torrence in the 100 at Barcelona, and Merlene Ottey.
``That's one of the most unfair reflections that the media likes to pin on her,'' Hunt said. ``Of all the women who compete in her two events, there's probably one or two that she does not get along with very well. Of those one or two, one happens to be a very vocal and emotional person.''
At least one of Torrence's American competitors agrees.
``Gwen and I have always gotten along,'' said Celena Mondie-Milner, who first met Torrence on a recruiting visit to Georgia. ``I guess the media is always looking for a story and, for some reason, controversy has surrounded Gwen.''
It's away from the controversy that Torrence believes her real personality shines through. She's most comfortable around her coach and husband, Manley Waller Jr., and their 6-year-old son, Little Man (short for Manley).
``Nobody would ever know who I am unless they come home with me and see me with my son,'' she said. ``They should see me when I wipe my little's boy's arm when he bleeds and be with him when he says his prayers.''
Track, of course, cuts into that mother-son relationship. Torrence's mother, Dorothy, has moved into her home in suburban Lithonia and cares for the child while mom is training and competing.
``It's very hard to separate the two,'' Torrence said. ``I try my best to leave the track at the track when I'm done.''
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Some of Gwen Torrence's opinions have made herby CNBopponents grimace. color.